I'll Keep Holding On
by Luvme4me84
Summary: First loves are like fairy tales. They catch you completely off guard when you least expect it. But sadly, life is no fairytale. Can true love really endure anything? In the most difficult of circumstances..is love necessarily enough? Set in November 2004
1. Sixteen

"And you're only sixteen with a lot to say but they won't give you the time of day..woahh oh noo" - no doubt

"_Is this line even moving?" _whined Glen to nobody in particular.

"_God Glen shut up! You've done nothing but complain this whole trip!" _snapped a testy Spencer.

"_Spencer do not use the Lord's name in vein!" _said Paula sternly, instantly receiving eye rolls from her three kids.

The Carlins had been waiting in a line that seemed endless to get onboard the cruise ship that would be their home for the next eight days. The kids were out on Thanksgiving break and Arthur had booked the vacation as a way to get away from all of their stress and just relax in the Caribbean sun. The ship would travel to the Southern Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and then loop back around ending back up in Florida.

Glen and Clay couldn't wait to scope around for hot girls and party it up on the pool deck. Spencer however, was not too excited at the prospect of spending eight whole days wandering around a boat full of old people by herself, and on top of everything she was forced to share a room with her brothers.

Spencer looked around at the different buildings and thousands of people waiting to board. While looking into one of the windows in the second story of the building next to them she saw another line. For a few moments she couldn't figure out what those people were waiting for until realization finally struck. _That is the same line we're in! You've got to be kidding me!_ The blonde sighed loudly, trying to accept the fact that she would be waiting for hours. _What a great start.._

Another hour and a half passed by and the Carlins were finally at the entrance of the two-story building, still not having moved very far. Spencer had never seen this many different types of people in once place, well except for on t.v. Although, coming from a small town in Ohio, she didn't see too much diversity.

Apparently Glen had noticed all of the different people too, since he suddenly spoke to Spencer in a quiet voice after having stared in astonishment for a few minutes, "_Woah Spence did you see that guy.._," he pointed discreetly at a tall teenage black boy, "_he's wearing baby converse as a necklace! What a freakin weirdo!_" Spencer glared at Glen and then glanced at the guy her brother was talking about.

He was standing with what seemed like his family and was wearing baggy jean shorts, and white and green basketball jersey with a green t-shirt underneath, and sure enough he ahd a pair of green high top converse made for toddlers hanging from his neck by the laces to match the pair he was wearing on his feet. Although it was different, Spencer didn't really think it was that weird, Glen was just a _tad_ bit ignorant. So she shot a small glare back at her brother and then went back to people watching.

"_Geeze someone is grumpy, is it that time of the month Spence_?" taunted Glen, not appreciating Spencer's annoyance towards him.

"_Glen! Do not talk to your sister that way! Especially in public_!" scolded Arthur, lowering his voice at the last part.

"_She started it!"_

_"Shut up Glen, what are you five?"_ shot Spencer.

_"And what are you eighty? Gosh this is vacation Spencer, have fun instead of having such a chip on your shoulder,"_

_"Why don't you just leave me alone for once and quit being such an ass!"_

_"Stop it right now! Both of you! We will not tolerate you kids fighting with eachother this entire trip!" _said Paula in an extremely irritated tone to finally stop the incessant arguing.

Once again the kids all rolled their eyes at their mother and went back to their own thoughts, moving forward a few steps in line. The Carlins had finally gotten inside of the building and saw how much further they had yet to go. They only had a ways to go before they they reached the stairs to the upper story, but they all had a feeling that the top of the stairs was not the end of the line.

_Great only 5 more hours_, thought Spencer, her bad mood worsening.

As they continued through the line Paula and Arthur talked about their plans for the shore excursions, Clay and Glen discussed plans for where they were gonna go first to look for girls, and Spencer thought of the best excuse to get away from her annoying family so she could be alone for once.

When they finally reached the top of the stairs they found that their suspicions were right, it was definately not the end of the line yet. Across the other side of the cramped room was was the metal detectors and x-rays for the bags. They reached the security check point 25 minutes later and when they were all through they wee quickly rounded up again by Paula.

"_How much further is it?" _Whined Glen.

"_Well I think we should follow the rest of the people, but it's not a line anymore so we have to pretty close," _explained Arthur in a soothing voice.

_"Good cuz im sooo hungry!"_

_"When are you not hungry?" _joked Clay.

The Carlin clan followed the groups of people across a walkway lined with large windows to the unknown destination in the seemingly endless maze of lines. They reached a large room filled with rows of seats like in an airport terminal and all of the walls were almost completely occupied by large floor length windows offering various views of the ship port.

Out of the window on the left side Spencer could see a glimpse of the back of the cruise ship. Her bad mood improved almost instantly at the sight of the ship. Even though she had been dreading the trip ever since her dad gave them the details, as soon as she actually saw the ship she couldn't help but feel a little excited. It finally sunk in that she would be on a ginormous boat in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, and you would have to be the most miserable person in the world to not be at least a little excited about something like that.

As they walked further into the room and attendant approached them smiling.

"_Hi! Welcome to Carnival Cruises! You are going to want to go over to the desk to check in, so you will want to have your itinerary and ID's out." _She said enthusiastically and pointing over to a large desk with about 10 different attendants checking in the passengers. There was a line that twisted around between a roped off area, and at the fron people waited for an attendant to call them over like at a bank.

Arthur thanked the woman that had given them directions and they headed over to the end of the line.

_"Almost there guys, then we can relax,"_ assured Arthur.

They reached the front of the line and the attendant on the far left called them over.

"_Hi welcome to Carnival. Itinerary please,"_ said a worn-out looking man, glancing us at the Carlins.

Arthur handed over their papers and the man typed some information into the computer.

_"Alright can I see your guys' ID's please?"_

Paula collected ID's from her husband and Glen, and Spencer and Clay handed their school ID's to their mother.

"_Here you go Sir," _said Paula handing them to the man.

He looked at each and then returned them to Paula. Then he typed some more information and handed them their tickets and a brochure of information on the trip.

_"Ok, you guys are booked for two adjacent rooms on the 3rd deck in the back. That puts you in group Orange. Your group will be called for boarding the ship today and __also exiting the ship on Sunday. So just go ahead and take a seat and wait for your section to be called. Once it's called you are going to walk down that hallway over there and get ready to board," _he instructed, pointing at a hallway opening on the other side of the room.

_"Thank you very much." _said Arthur smiling genuinely at the attentdant.

"_Thank you Mr. Carlin, enjoy your trip guys!" _

The family walked over to a group of empty seats near one of the big windows.

_"Ahh..finally we get to sit down! I thought my legs were gonna fall off!" _commented Glen who had raced over and sat down as soon as they had spotted the empty seats.

_"I'm glad you made it, cuz then we would've had to wheel you around in a wheel chair making you even more of a pain in the butt!" _shot Spencer, receiving a glare from Glen and a hushed scolding from her mother.

Spencer gazed out the window at the street below her and the never-ending line they had been in for hours. She coudln't help but feel a little bad for the people down there, knowing how long they had yet to go.

_"Section Blue, all passengers in Section Blue go over to the hallway at the back of the room. Section Blue!" _a woman's voice said over the intercom.

In response to the announcement a huge group of people stood up and made their way over to the back of the room.

The process continued for another 30 minutes calling groups purple, green, red, yellow, black, and pink until orange was finally called. The Carlins stood up along with about a hundred others and walked over to the hallway in the back. Arthur, Paula, Glen, Clay, and Spencer followed the large group led by two attendants through the hallway out the double doors that opened to the outside. Once outside they rounded the corner of a building and the side of the massive cruise ship came into view.

From far away the ships didn't seem that big, but once they were right next to it the massiveness became much more apparent. There were about five ramps going from the port to the entrances on the ship. The Carlins chose the ramp closest to the back of the boat since that was where their cabins were.

_"You kids getting excited yet?_" asked Arthur in the enthusiastic tone he had been using the entire journey so far to try and help everyone be in a better mood.

_"Are you kidding? Eight days soaking up the sun, hanging out with the honeys, and no strings attached? This is perfect!" _Glen exclaimed, holding up his hand to Clay for a high five. Clay just laughed and shook his head, then lightly slapped his brother's hand.

Arthur laughed at his son's ridiculous comments, while Paula and Spencer just looked at each other with the _He's such a typical guy_ look.

They reached the ramp and moved slowly in the line. At the entrance of the ship an attendant checked their tickets and pointed them in the direction of their cabins. As they started walking to their respective rooms, each of them couldn't help but take in the intricate beauty of the ship. The furniture, the walls made of wood with beautiful carvings, even the carpet was fancy.

Several sounds filled the air around them as well. Sounds of young children bantering back and forth excitedly, old couples admiring some of the artwork on display, and if they were not mistaken, the ringing sounds of a casino not far off. The atmosphere was so infectious that the Carlins couldn't help but become more eager to explore things further.

_"Dude Clay, we have to sneak into that casino," _said Glen just quietly enough for his parents not to overhear. Clay smirked and gave a small nod in response to Glen's plan.

After finally finding their rooms and bringing in their suitcases that had been waiting for them outside of the door, they all went inside of their respective rooms to look around.

Inside of the kids' rooms were two twin beds, a good-sized bathroom, a small couch which contained a pull-out bed, a t.v., a mini bar, and a sliding glass door that led to a balcony overlooking the water in the back of the ship.

Spencer claimed the bed on the right for herself while Clay and Glen did rock paper scissors for who had to sleep on the pull-out bed. Clay ended up winning and Glen begrudgingly moved his stuff over next to the coach.

Deciding to unpack later so she could get away from her increasingly annoying brothers, well brother, as quickly as possible, Spencer went over and knocked on her parents' door.

Paula opened the door and smiled at her daughter. _"You need something honey?"_

"_No, I just wanted to come over and tell you that I'm gonna go up onto the pool deck to look around and check out the ship a little bit, okay?"_

"_Well alright, I don't really want you going by yourself, but I guess that's okay. Just be safe!"_

"_I will I will."_

_"Alright, well try and be back before dinner so we can all go together," _requested Paula, but Spencer didn't hear her because as soon as her mother said yes she had started to walk quickly down the hall to where the elevators were.

_Maybe this won't be so bad after all..._ she thought, pressing the UP button.


	2. Carry This Picture

"Color the coast with your smile it's the most genuine thing I've ever seen..I was so lost, but now I believe" - Dashboard Confessional

_"Caribe Deck,"_ came a woman's voice from the speaker in the elevator Spencer was standing in along with five other strangers.

_What the heck is Caribe? _thought the blonde, but the sight in front of her completely distracted her from those thoughts.

As she stepped out of the elevator she saw too many incredible sights to take in all at once. She was inside of a room that had large glass windows all around and glass doors wide open leading to the pool deck outside.

She peered around the room and saw that she was in the lobby for a spa. Yes, the ship actually had a spa! Connecting to the lobby was a hallway that led to a gym where the walls were basically just windows to let in the Caribbean sun and views of the ocean. Spencer was astonished by what she saw already and she hadn't even been outside yet!

She wandered out of the glass doors to the outside pool deck and took in her surroundings. She was in the front of the ship, apparently she had missed the elevators in the back_, no wonder the hallway seemed so long... _

To her immediate left was two ping pong tables where some young kids were playing and laughing loudly. In front of her there was a large pool with two hot tubs and hundreds of chairs set around it. Although it was outside, there were walls with large windows and tables set next to them around the deck.

On the other side of the walls was a walkway with railing for the side of the ship on the other side. Through the windows Spencer could see old couples walking hand in hand, young adults lounging on chairs, and little kids chasing each other and screaming.

The blonde walked past the pool towards the middle of the boat. Walls went across the center of the ship sectioning off the front pool deck, the larger middle pool deck, and the back deck.

In between each section were areas for drink bars and various food places. As she made her way to the middle deck Spencer saw an ice cream bar where parents were getting cones for their children.

She walked through an empty glass door frame to the middle pool deck where she saw an even larger pool with considerably more chairs and people.

_How are there already so many people in the pools?_ she thought. At the other end of the pool right in front of the wall separating this deck from the next one was an empty stage for live performances.

She continued wandering through the next doors and entered into a closed off room filled with tables and chairs, a large buffet, and a pizza bar.

Once Spencer made it to the very back deck which contained a less crowded bar along with a large hot tub and a soft serve ice cream machine ( which was completely free and all you can eat). She got pretty excited a the prospect of as much ice cream she wanted whenever she wanted it for free, because who in their right mind wouldn't?

The blonde saw a flight of stairs to her right that led to the open deck above her. She made her way up the stairs and saw that it was a deck that went around the edge of the pool decks below with hundreds of chairs for lounging and railing that overlooked the ocean over the side of the ship.

The majority of the chairs were already occupied by passengers who were sunbathing or chatting excitedly with each other. She walked a little ways along the deck and then stopped at the side to check out the view.

They were still on the port and wouldn't take off for a few hours or so since people were still boarding. Spencer could see the coast lined with beaches in front of her. The land extended a little ways and then disappeared off into the distance.

The water that touched the white sand beaches was such a beautiful aqua color. Spencer had only seen water that translucent turquoise color in pictures and on t.v. She lingered there for a while, absorbing the views and smells of the ocean.

On the decks below her they were playing music blaringly loud. _I swear I have heard that "feeling hot hot hot" song about 500 times in the past hour! I know this is a cruise and that song fits but come on..._she thought, but quickly stopped herself from falling back into her previous bad mood.

The blonde found an empty lounge chair and sat down taking out her cell phone. She knew she wouldn't have service once they left the port so she called her friends. Spencer left a message for Jessica, Megan, and Kelli who had all not answered their cells. _Where are they, all partying together now that I left?_

She laughed at her own cynical thoughts knowing that that wasn't the case; they were probably with their families or at a movie together.

She sighed and sat back in the lounge chair, relaxing and resuming her new favorite people watching hobby.

A little while later she was startled awake by someone calling her name. _Wow I didn't even realize I fell asleep, how lame am i napping on vacation..._

Her train of thought was interrupted once again by someone calling her name. She looked in the direction of the voice and saw her parents approaching.

_ "Hey honey! Isn't this amazing!"_ said Paula sitting down in the chair next to her daughter. Arthur took a seat on the other side of his wife, laying back and stretching out his arms.

_ "Yeah mom it's really great." _replied Spencer smiling softly at her parents.

_ "I can't believe they actually have a spa Spence! We soo have to go in there sometime, maybe on of the days we are at sea."_

_ "Yeah sure,"_ Spencer answered distractedly. She was not really paying attention to her mother, instead she was trying to think of what excuse she could use to go off and be alone again. Then she got an idea..

_ "Hey guys I think I'm gonna go check out the arcade okay?"_

_ "Sure hun go ahead. Oh and your room key is like a credit card, they don't take cash on the ship. So if you want to buy a smoothie or something you just give them your card, and pops are free," _explained Arthur.

"_Oh okay thanks."_ replied Spencer.

_ "Don't go crazy! Just because you have it doesn't mean you can spend a bunch," _warned Paula.

"_I know_," called Spencer walking away from her parents.

She found some stairs and made her way down to the middle pool deck. She spotted an empty table near the windows so she wouldn't get splashed by the little kids, and then looked around.

A few minutes after she sat down she saw a few people getting on the stage. The loud music stopped and the people appeared to be setting up.

There were two older black mean, one taking out some bongos, the other a guitar, and a younger black woman who was setting up near the microphone.

_"How are we all feeling today?"_ asked the woman into the microphone in a strong Jamaican accent.

A bunch of people holding various drinks from the bar cheered in response, a few a little too loudly due to excessive amounts of margaritas. Spencer clapped and scanned the people in the crowd that was forming.

The men started to play a mellow tune as the woman began to sing in a beautiful soulful voice, "_Wise men say, only fools rush in...but I can't help falling in love with you..."_

Spencer was impressed with the woman's rendition of the Elvis classic so far.

She glanced over to the doors next to the stage that led to the front pool deck and saw two teenage girls beginning to make their way through. The girl in the front was about 5'3, had medium length brown hair, and a light tan.

She was wearing a light blue spaghetti strap tank top and short jean shorts. As the girl behind her came into view, Spencer couldn't help but do a double-take.

The second girl was a little taller than the first, but her appearance instantly struck Spencer. She had to be _the_ _most _beautiful girl she had ever seen. The girl had a gorgeous tan, soft, but bouncy brown curls that fell slightly past her shoulders, and an incredibly tone figure, but what caught really Spencer's attention were the girl's deep brown eyes. There was just something about them...they were almost magnetic. The brunette was wearing a short, light colored jean mini skirt and a tight-fitting Rolling Stones t-shirt.

Although Spencer had only been peering at the young girl for a few seconds, she quickly turned away her gaze, fearing that the girl would notice that Spencer had been gawking at her for what seemed like hours to the blonde.

Spencer pretended to focus on the performance but continued to watch the girls out of the corner of her eye_. Thank the good Lord for peripheral vision_! she thought.

The girls walked past Spencer's table and behind her to the back deck. She turned her head slightly after they walked past her so she could see them exit through the door behind her.

She saw the gorgeous brunette turn her head and look at her quickly, then continue to follow the girl in front of her. But right before she walked through the door, Spencer could've sworn that she saw the girl look back at her again.

_Did she seriously just check me out? No... no she had to have been looking at a hot guy behind me or something. Besides, what do I even care...I'm not that way and I seriously doubt she is...unless... Wait, what am i thinking_? Spencer shook her head in an attempt to stop the weird thoughts invading her mind. She turned her attention back to the music

_"Like a river flows...surely to the sea...darling so it goes...some things are meant to be..."_

Spencer sat listening to the band play for another 10 minutes, genuinely enjoying the performance. She then saw a couple of people walk past her from behind and then realized that it was the two girls form before.

The curly-haired girl Spencer had been admiring stood against a pillar about fifteen feet away, bobbing her head lightly to the music. The other girl walked over to the bar and then brought back some smoothies.

Spencer adopted her method of staring from before and watched the brunette out of the corner of her eye. The two exchanged a few words and then began to laugh quietly. Spencer turned her gaze completely to the girl as soon as she caught sight of her smile. It was _the most_ breath-taking smile she had ever seen, and she suddenly felt a little flutter in her stomach at the sight.

Spencer quickly averted her gaze back to the woman singing. The girls occasionally glanced in Spencer's direction a few times. It was in a very discreet way that Spencer would never have noticed if she hadn't been staring herself.

After a few minutes she turned her gaze over to them and made eye contact with the beauty, which was quickly broken as the girl suddenly turned away her gaze to the stage.

After another ten minutes or so the two girls left, but not before the girl glanced back at Spencer once again before walking away. Once she was sure they weren't looking anymore Spencer turned her gaze to the two retreating figures before they disappeared out of her sight. As she looked back to the band, a random, yet subtle thought crossed the blonde's mind. _I hope that's not the last time I see her, the ship can't be __**that**__ big..._


	3. Burning Up

"So let me just introduce myself before i get too shy. I've seen you in my dreams at night to you I fantasize..you've caught my eye, you're just so fly, you've caught my eye, you're just so fly... I..I..I..I'm burnin up..up..up..up for you..!" - Ashlee Simpson

Spencer had left her table on the pool deck and then gone to explore the lower decks. After wandering around for about fifteen minutes she decided to get a map of the boat, just to make it a little easier and not have to walk around lost like an idiot.

She walked from the front of the ship to the back on both the second and the third deck, checking out all of the different places along the way. There were two large restaurants, about twenty bars, a humongous casino, a night club called Medusa's Lair, a large foyer in the middle of the ship which was two stories tall, a shopping area with a handful of different stores, something called Firebird Lounge, and finally the hallway where she was sitting now.

The hallway led up to the arcade and was apparently forest themed. The walls had fake trees made from plastic as part of the actual walls, small tables and chairs, large porthole style windows, and bench style seats that were cut into the wall in little alcoves all along the hall. If you sat back far enough somebody walking by wouldn't even see you until they were right next to you.

The hall was empty and Spencer figured it was a nice little place she could relax by herself. She was sitting in one of the metal chairs next to a table and one of the porthole windows, sipping on a coke and thinking to herself about nothing of importance.

A few people walked by every now and then, not paying much attention to the blonde which was just fine with her.

Just as Spencer was finishing her coke she heard two young female voices laughing and talking and starting to come down the hallway from behind her. Spencer just kept looking ahead, having a feeling that she knew who the approaching voices were coming from.

Sure enough the same two girls from the pool deck came walking past her. As they passed next to her table Spencer gazed up at the brunettes, making eye conact with the curly-haired girl.

In that split second that their eyes met Spencer did something that suprised not only the girl but herself as well. Yes, she gave her "_**the look.**_"That certain look you give someone to show them that you like what you see...

It's not easily described but if you give or recieve it, you know.

So as the girls walked a few more steps Spencer realized what she had just done. She was pretty sure the girl had noticed, and then this suspicion was confirmed. The girl had walked a short distance further and then turned her head and looked at Spencer. Her eyes said to the blonde_, did you just give me "the look"?_

Without even noticing she was doing it Spencer sent the girl an assuring smile as if replying_, yeah that's right, I did _

The girls continued walking down the hall and went into the arcade. Spencer sat in shock at what she had just done. Embarassment immediately filled the blonde and she was almost certain that she was blushing profusely. Once she recovered from the inital shock she began thinking a little more rationally.

_ She doesn't even know who_ _I am, we are complete strangers so it doesn't really matter. I never have to even talk to her if I dont want to._

These thoughts brought some comfort to Spencer, although she knew that she wasn't being completely honest with herself, because she was sure that she would want to talk to the beautiful girl if the oppourtunity presented itself.

After getting lost in these thoughts for a few minutes she considered going into the arcade, that _was_ one place she hadn't checked out yet. However, she quickly decided against this knowing that the only reason she would go in there would be in hope of seeing that girl again.

She was extremely confused with why she was acting and feeling this way over a complete stranger, let alone a girl. Spencer was not gay, so she couldn't figure out this, magnetic atraction to this one girl.

_ Plus if i go in there she'll think im stalking her or something..._

The young Carlin stared out the window next to her for a while before remembering that the ship would be leaving port any minute. The blonde got up from the hard metal chair and found the nearest elevator, making her way to the upper deck.

It was kind of a challenge to find an empty spot in fron of the railing, but since she was alone she was able to find just enough room. She became slightly aware of the obnoxious music from before that had now resumed playing. _Am I the only one who finds this song annoying?_

After a few minutesthe ships engines became louder and Spencer could feel a dull rumbling under her feet. The enormous vessel began to move at an extremely slow pace, but it was moving nonetheless. The feeling of excitement crept back to Spencer as she watched the beaches move slowly until they disappeared from view, replaced by and endless ocean.

Spencer had eventually gone back to her room for dinner with her family. After managing yet another hasty escape she went back to wandering around the ship alone.

While walking through the buffet she came across a group of four guys.

"_Hi,"_ said the nearest one as she passed by them.

_"Hey,"_ she replied, offering a small wave and stoping next to their table.

_"We're just introducing ourselves to new people, we all just met a little bit ago. What's your name?"_ asked the boy. He had a darker complexion with short black hair, brown eyes, and was wearing skater clothes and a hat.

_"Um...I'm Spencer"_

_ "Sweet name dude, never heard that for a chick. I'm Bo," _replied the boy. The more he spoke the more Spencer noticed his "California surfer boy" accent. The boy turned to look at the others, _"Introduce yourself to Spencer bros."_

Spencer continued to stand there, a little uncomfortable. One of the guys spoke up after a few seconds, "_Hey I'm Bryce, this is Chris and Vince,"_ said the guy pointing at the remaining two.

Chris was tall and a little lanky with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. Vince was a little different than the others. He was wearing a black beanie over his reddish-brown hair and he was dressed in mainly all black with a pair of large headphones resting around his neck. He was a little feminine due to his small build.

Bryce was taller than the other by far. He had longer blonde curly hair, blue eyes, and wore a bob marley t-shirt, shorts, and a red, yellow, and green striped wristband. He was kind of a white wannabe rastafarian. Despite that, Spencer couldn't help but notice how good looking Bryce was.

"_Come sit down with us and help us recruit new members to our group,"_ Bo said to the blonde.

Since she really didn't have anuthing better to do, Spencer joined the boys at their table. They all talked about where they lived and stuff they liked. As the conversations went on Spencer couldn't help but feel slightly attracted to Bryce, he had a funny, yet sweet personality.

They talked easily about music, movies, friends, and basically anything they could think of. The blonde could tell Bryce was into her, he had been flirting throughout their discussions, making little commetns or touching her arm lightly.

Spencer hadn't really had much attention dating-wise back at home. Mainly because she decided that she was tired of the dumb drama and that she was going to be patient and wait for teh right person to come along. So since she wasn't really used to the whole being flirted with thing, she didn't think twice about returning the flirtacious comments Bryce made.

After a while they all decided to walk around, so they got uo and began meandering around the boat. Spencer and Bryce lagged behind the others, caught in their own little flirty world.

Soon Bryce begane making little attempts to make physical contact with Spencer. Like when they would walk through a door or around something he would place his hand on her back or rest his arm around her shoulders for a few seconds. Spencer was so caught up in all teh attention she was getting from the cute guy that she didn't really mind and just went along with his lame moves.

By nightfall Spencer and Bryce had ditched the others and were strolling around together, laughing and joking around. While exploring the pool deck the two found an empty little cafe/lounge that had its lights off, but its doors had been left open.

The two journeyed inside and sat down next to eachother at a small table right next to a large window. On the other side of the window was the walkway where passengers occasionally walked, not noticing the two teens on the other side.

After a few minutes an old man came by the window and stopped right in front of the two. He peered intently into the window and Spencer and Bryce were not really sure if he could see them or not.

_"Hey I have an way to tell if he can see us," _whispered Bryce close to Spencer's ear.

He turned to face the man at the window and began making ridiculous faces at him. Spencer couldn't help but laugh at Bryce, even if it was really immature.

The man just stayed where he was and continued to stare into the window.

_"Okay, new plan.."_ Bryce dais, placing his hand on Spencer's cheek. He looked into her bright blue eyes and leaned in slowly for the kiss. Spencer, not really seeing what the harm could be, leaned towards him slightly so that their lips met.

Bryce kissed the blonde's lips lightly for a few seconds and then pulled back ending the kiss. He smiled at her and then looked up to see if the old man was still there. The plan had worked apparently because the man just shook his head and walked away slowly.

The plan had worked apparently because the man just shook his head and walked away slowly.

_"That was sooo weird,"_ commented Spencer watching the man walk off slowly.

Bryce laughed and agreed, then suggested they go out to the walkway for some fresh air. Spencer agreed and he grabbed her hand, leading her outside. They walked until they reached the front of the ship and found two empty plastic chairs. Bryce motioned for them to sit down and the two rested, gazing out at the sea in the darkness.

Soon Bryce turned to Spencer pulling her into another lip lock. He tried to deepend the kiss after only a few seconds, and although Spencer was a little turned off by his lack of sensuality, she obliged.

The two sat there making out for a few minutes, but Spencer broke the kiss due to the akward angle the chairs were putting them in. Bryce realized why she had stopped and quickly came up with a solution. He stood up and grabbed her hands, pulling her up from her seat. He led her over in front of his seat and sat down, pulling the blonde onto his lap. Spencer was a little put off by his forwardness, but just went with it.

As she sat there participating in the liplock with Bryce, her mind wandered to the beautiful brunette from before. However, she caught herself before her mind had fully indulged itself in the thoughts from earlier that day, She put forth al of her effort into focusing on her kiss with Bryce, as if trying to prove a point to herself.

Not wanting things to get too heated, spencer broke the kiss and tld Bryce that she needed to go back to her cabin before she got in trouble.

Her excuse was convincing enough and the two began heading towards her room. Bryce insisted on walking her the entire way and clung to ehr hand tightly.

"_Spencer, I'm so glad we met! Seriously, this is so awesome. I really like you, i want to spend every second with you,"_ rambled the boy.

This last statement freaked out the blonde quite a bit, and she immediately regretted the night's activities. She had just met the guy and he was being freakishly clingy...

When they reached her room finally Spencer just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

"_Well I'll see you tomorrow then okay?" _said Bryce, planting a sloppy kiss on her lips. The blonde didn't return the kiss, but the boy didn't seem to notice at all.

"_Yeah, I'll see you later. Night,"_ said Spencer quickly, turning away from the boy. She got her door open and then whispered a quick goodbye before shutting her door in his face.

_What did I get myself into? I have to avoid him tomorrow...he's waaaaay too clingy and weird!_


	4. Makedamnsure

"You start shakin at the thought, you are everything I want cuz you are everything I'm not...and we lay we lay together just not too close too close, how close is close enough?.." - taking back Sunday

Spencer slept surprisingly well the first night. the dull hum of the ship's engines was soothing and helped her to fall asleep much quicker.

When she woke up the next morning she saw through the shade that the sun was just beginning to rise. She had always been kind of a morning person, and the time difference was only a couple hours from Ohio time.

The blonde decided to take advantage of the fact that her brothers were still sound asleep, so she took a shower and got ready for her day fairly quickly. She was hoping to make it out of her cabin before the rest of her family woke up, that way she could go off alone and plan how she was going to avoid Bryce.

She made her way up to teh breakfast buffet which was mostly filled with elderly passengers. _The only reason they can wake up so early is because they go to bed at like 6 in the afternoon..._ thought the blonde.

Spencer grabbed a Danish, a napkin, and some fruit juice and strolled outside to the upper deck. She rested the front of her body against the railing and gazed at the beautiful morning at sea. Everything just felt so peaceful here on the endless waters. She felt like she couldn't be stressed or upset even if she tried in this paradise.

The sight of water as far as she could see in every direction was amazing to her. It really put things into perspective as to just how big the world was and how miniscule and silly her problems seemed.

She stayed there for a while until the sun had begun to rise higher in the sky and the decks began to become more crowded.

She knew that she had better sat on the move if she wanted to avoid Bryce.

_Gosh why the hell do i get myself in stupid situations like this.._thought the blonde.

She shuddered at the thought of the boy and the way she had acted the night before. It was almost like it was a different person, definitely not the normal Spencer.

_Maybe I got possessed or something...you never know, doesn't this trip go near the Bermuda Triangle?_ She didn't care if her reasoning was ridiculous; she just wanted to push the thoughts of the night before out of her mind.

She looked around and noticed that she was outside near the arcade, so she found the nearest doors and went inside to find it.

She walked through the empty hallway "forest" and went into the arcade for the first time. It was basically empty except for a couple of scattered people.

Spencer looked around and observed that it was just like any other arcade, except the games were a little more fancy than in typical arcades.

She walked over to the Area 51 game; she loved shooting games, and tried to figure out how to pay for the game.

A little who was nearby spotted her clear confusion and approached the blonde.

"_You have to put your key card into that little slot and it pays for one game. You just put it in each time,"_ explained the young boy, who couldn't be older than eight.

"_Oooh I get it, thank you,"_ Spencer replied, pretty embarrassed that she had to get help from a little kid just to play a stupid game.

The boy nodded and skipped off towards some car racing game.

Spencer played a couple rounds, pretty much owning those aliens' asses. A few more people had come into the game room now and Spencer looked around for what she wanted to do next.

She scanned the room and caught sight of two people emerging from the Jurassic Park game. It was a shooting game that you sat in and there were curtains on the sides so you couldn't see the people playing.

Spencer watched as the two mystery girls from the day before got out laughing and tried to catch their breath. When the two finally returned to regular breathing patterns the taller one with the curly hair looked up and saw Spencer.

Spencer quickly looked away and suddenly became extremely interested in some dumb helicopter death and destruction game. The blonde walked over and sat down and started to play.

About two seconds into the game she realized just how retarded it was and wondered why she was wasting money on it.

She heard hushed voices somewhere behind her coming from the girls. The two were arguing quietly about something.

"_Yes!...no I'm doing it"_

_ "No you're not! Stop seriously...no..!"_

_ "Let go of my arm, I'm going!"_

Spencer heard approaching footsteps behind her and turned to see the shorter girl with straight hair standing next to her and looking back at the other girl nodding and smiling mischievously.

The girl turned and looked at Spencer. "_Uh hi...ok my sister...she wanted.."_

But before she could finish her sentence she was grabbed by her arm by the other girl who was apparently her sister. The curly-haired girl looked up at Spencer with a slightly embarrassed expression and pulled her sister a distance away.

The two argued once again in hushed tones, but Spencer could hear little bits over the lame sound effects of the helicopter game.

_ "Kyla...no...seriously just shut the hell up!"_

_ "What's the big deal..."_

_ "Just leave it alone, I'm not even kidding!"_

But apparently the girl named Kyla didn't want to listen to her sister. Spencer heard the girl approach once again and attempt to continue what she had been saying earlier.

_ "Okay, so my sister...she wanted me to tell you that..."_

But sure enough the other girl pulled her away again saying, "_Shut up Kyla, god I'm gonna kill you!"_

Kyla just giggled and grinned at Spencer, finding the fact that she could make her sister so embarrassed hilarious.

The girl pulled her all the way to the other side of the game room as Spencer crashed in her helicopter game, finally ending the horrible experience. She got up and saw the two sisters talking quietly by the air hockey tables.

Spencer was pretty bored with the arcade games, but she was intrigued by what had just happened so she decided to stick around a little while longer. She found a game somewhat near the two, but not too close.

It was some weird Egyptian shooting game where you are inside of a pyramid and have to shoot mummies. It was incredibly lame, but hey, she was undercover.

She heard the two girls begin a game of air hockey, and they were still playing when her mummy game was over. They finished a minute or so later and she saw the curly-haired girl do a small victory dance. "_In your face secret love child...uh huh..oh yeah.."_ she said, really rubbing it in for her sister.

Kyla just shook her head and laughed at her sister's ridiculous antics. She then looked over and saw Spencer standing not far off and smiled.

_ "Hey do you wanna play some air hockey with us?" _she said, taking a few steps closer.

Spencer was a little caught off guard by the invitation, but she responded, "_Uh...sure."_

Kyla looked back at her sister with a triumphant grin and then turned back to Spencer.

_"Great, well you can play my sister then, since she just beat me. Maybe you can show up her cocky ass."_

Kyla looked at her sister who shot her a death glare and then looked at Spencer, offering a polite smile.

The blonde looked across the table at the girl, _"I'm Spencer by the way..."_

_ "Oh cool, I'm Ashley and that is my annoying sister Kyla. Sorry for her weirdness earlier...we're strongly considering getting her tested for Turette's or epilepsy or something."_

Spencer laughed at the brunette's remark, "_It's cool, trust me I've seen waaay weirder, I have two older brothers."_

The girl apparently named Ashley laughed and then looked for the puck.

"_Uh, I think the puck thingie is on your side."_

Spencer looked down and grabbed the neon yellow colored puck and placed it on the table.

_"Ready?"_ asked the blonde.

"_Uh huh"_

Spencer hit the puck, not too hard but definitely with enough force so that she didn't look weak. The two hit it back and forth a few times, both sort of taking it easy. But soon they forgot their shyness and began getting into it and actually trying. They seemed to be pretty even skill wise.

After a few minutes Spencer was winning 4-3. Ashley's competitive side seemed to kick into full gear as she expertly pulled ahead after only a minute. Spencer tied it up and it went on pretty close back and forth until Spencer made the winning shot, narrowly beating the brunette by one point.

_"Whoa, I don't think anyone has ever beat her...you rock Spencer!!"_ Kyla said in an amazed voice to the blonde. She looked over at her sister, not missing this rare opportunity to be able to taunt her older sister.

"_Ha ha! Someone finally kicked your ass..I always knew this day would come..that's what you get for bragging so much!"_

_ "Whatever,"_ replied Ashley smiling, passing up the chance to say something rude to her sister like she usually enjoyed doing.

The three girls talked for a few minutes, mostly about Ashley's epid defeat until Spencer caught sight of someone.

"_Oh crap..."_ said the blonde, ducking down and walking over to the Jurassic Park game to hide behind it.

Bryce had just come into the arcade and was clearly looking for Spencer. He walked into the room a little ways and scanned the people inside. Spencer hid further behind the machine, and Kyla and Ashley were staring at her, wondering what the heck was going on.

_"Uh are you okay?"_ asked Kyla, eyeing the blonde questioningly.

_ "Yeah...I just don't want someone to see me..."_

The girls looked around, "_Who are you hiding from?"_

_ "That blonde guy that just walked in."_

_ "Who the Bob Marley poser?"_ asked Ashley.

"_Yeah, is he gone yet?"_

_ "Uh...it looks like he's just about to leave. Okay yeah he's walking out now, you're clear,"_ reported Kyla.

Spencer came out from behind the game slowly, seeing Bryce's tall figure retreating until he was finally out of sight. The blonde sighed in relief and sat down on a bench against the wall.

The two girls looked at each other, extremely confused with what was going on.

_ "Why were you hiding from him? Is that your brother or something?"_ asked Kyla.

"_No, he's not my brother. Uh...it's kind of a long story...let's just say he's really weird and will follow me around all day if he finds me."_

_ "Okay...that's kinda weird. What a loser,"_ commented Kyla.

"_Yeah you could definitely say that, sorry about that guys," _said Spencer, pretty embarrassed about the whole situation.

_ "It's cool don't worry, you can't always control your stalkers," _joked Ashley.

Spencer giggled at the girl's remark and smiled at her. The brunette returned the gesture and Spencer noticed how amazing her smile was.

_"So...I'm pretty bored in this dumb game room, you guys wanna go walk around or something?" _asked Kyla.

Spencer and Ashley both nodded in agreement.

_ "Okay good, cuz I could really go for some pizza right about now."_

_ "You've already had like 4 pieces today Kyla," _commented Ashley laughing at her younger sibling.

"_That's because it's the most amazing pizza ever! Shut up..."_ replied Kyla defensively.

Spencer and Ashley giggled at the brunette and the three girls headed up to the pizza place in the buffet.


	5. Tell Me Somethin' Good

**"I'll make you wish there was 48 hours to each day. Your problem is you ain't been loved like you should. What I got to give will sho nuff do you good. Tell me something good,  
Tell me that you like it, yeah. Tell me something good,  
Tell that you love me, yeah" - Rufus and Chaka Khan **

Spencer, Ashley, and Kyla sat in a slightly awkward silence at their table on the deck in the back of the ship as Kyla was finishing scarfing down her fifth piece of pizza of the day.

Ashley had been watching her younger sibling with an amused, but slightly grossed out expression on her face.

_ "What..?" _asked Kyla after finally noticing that she was being stared at, her mouth full of pepperoni pizza.

Ashley just shook her head and smiled in response, and then turned her gaze to their blonde companion. Spencer had been fairly quiet, her shyness taking over once again.

"_What's that?"_ asked Ashley, eyeing the drink in front of Spencer. It was blended and seemed to be two different drinks side by side in the glass.

Spencer looked at what the brunette was asking about. _"Oh, it's called a Miami Vice. It's half strawberry daiquiri, half pina colada. It's really really good."_

_ "Oh really, wow I've never heard of that, where did you find out about it?"_

_ "I heard some chick order it yesterday at one of the bars and it looked really good, so I decided to try it. Wanna taste it?"_ asked Spencer.

Ashley looked a little uncomfortable for a few split seconds, as if she wasn't sure whether or not she should, but finally replied, "_Uh, okay..."_ in a shy, quiet voice.

Spencer smiled on the inside when she noticed the brunette suddenly become shyer.

"_Here,"_ said the blonde, pushing the drink across the table towards Ashley.

The brunette grabbed the glass, offering Spencer a small, akward smile. She seemed to face another inner conflict about whether to drink from the straw or the side of the glass. After glancing quickly at the blonde, she made up her mind and took a small sip from the side. Once she got a taste of the concoction, however, her shyness immediately diminished and she grinned at Spencer.

"_Wow, you weren't kidding, that was amazing, like pretty much orgasmic" _Ashley said, passing the drink back to the blonde, immediately feeling stupid at the last part of her comment.

Spencer laughed at the brunette's choice of words.

"_Yup. It is definitely the best drink ever."_

_ "Wow you guys have some pretty exciting conversations I must say.." _interjected Kyla sarcastically.

Spencer and Ashley both laughed half-heartedly at Kyla's comment, feeling the awkwardness take over once again.

_"So Spencer, who all are you here with?" _asked Kyla, feeling a little bad about how her attempt at a joke came out.

"_Um, I'm with my mom and dad and my two brothers Glen and Clay,"_

_ "Oh I see. Yeah me and Ash are here with her mom, but we have our own separate room."_

_ "Thank God,"_ added Ashley under her breath.

"_You're lucky, I'm stuck in a room with my brothers the entire time, and probably whatever random chicks Glen brings in."_

_ "Wow...that blows, I'm sorry," _said Kyla, wondering what Spencer's brothers looked like.

Just then Spencer spotted her mother and father walking towards her from the stairs of the upper deck.

"_Hey Spencer honey, oh who are your friends?"_ asked Paula arriving at the girls' table with Arthur in tow.

Spencer noticed her mom eyeing Ashley up and down, with the look the blonde knew all too well plastered all over her face. She could tell already that her mom was judging the brunette and was not really caring for what she saw. Spencer knew instantly that she should anticipate a "bad influence" speech later on that night.

"_Oh...uh hey mom. This is Ashley and Kyla," _responded Spencer.

"_Hello," _Paula said to the girls in an unconvincing nice tone, " _Spencer honey, we're gonna be going to dinner at 6:30, all of us. So you may want to come back to your cabin pretty soon and get ready okay?"_

_ "Okay mom," _said the blonde in a slightly annoyed tone.

"_Alright see you soon, make sure you give yourself plenty of time. Nice to meet you girls," _said Paula before flipping her blonde hair off of her shoulder and walking away. Arthur smiled and waved at the girls before following his wife.

Ashley had apparently noticed the way Spencer's mother had been looking her up and down with a judgemental eye, and was now wearing a small glare while she watched the woman retreat. She was glad that Spencer didn't seem to be like her mom at all.

"_Sorry guys, my mom is really annoying," _apologized Spencer, sensing the small bit of tension.

_"Yeah, but at least she cares about you," _added Ashley dropping the look on her face and smiling at the blonde.

Spencer just nodded and took a sip from her Miami Vice.

Kyla had been fairly quiet for the last few minutes and decided to make the conversation a little more interesting.

"_So...Spencer...do you have a boyfriend back home?"_

Ashley snapped her head towards Kyla as soon as the words left her mouth. She looked away casually trying to seem uninterested. She couldn't believe that her sister was actually doing this, but despite how much she liked to tell herself different, she was glad Kyla was asking Spencer this.

"_Actually no I don't."_

_ "Oh really? Wow I'm surprised...why not?"_ asked Kyla with a mischievous smile, she knew Ashley was freaking out on the inside.

_"Uh...I don't know..."_ Spencer laughed a little nervously, _"I guess I just don't date around really."_

_ "Oh I see...well that's cool."_

_ "Yup..."_ Spencer was feeling a little awkward, mostly due to her strange attraction for Ashley and tried to shift the focus off of herself.

"_What about you guys?"_ asked the blonde, looking back and forth between the two.

Ashley looked over at Kyla, not really sure how to respond. Kyla decided to speak up her Ashley so she wouldn't have to give any explanations just yet.

"_Actually no. I just broke up with my boyfriend, and Ashley here doesn't have a guy either,"_ answered the younger of the two brunettes.

Spencer smiled and nodded, making quick eye contact with Ashley and then glancing away quickly.

A smile spread across Ashley's lips as she noticed just how cute the blonde's facial expressions were. She averted her gaze quickly after catching herself staring at the beautiful features of her new acquaintance.

"_What time is it?"_ asked Spencer, looking around for a clock.

"_Uh, it's 5:32," _said Ashley, catching a glimpse of the clock behind the nearest bar.

"_Oh shoot, I'd better go get ready for dinner with the fam," _said the blonde, feeling disappointed that she had to leave so soon.

"_Oh, alright, well have fun! Are you coming to the little teen night club thingie tonight?" _asked Kyla.

"_I haven't even heard of anything like that,"_ replied Spencer, a little confused.

"_It's the little Medusa's Lair night club, its an adult club but from 9-12 its a dance thing for the teenagers. Me and Ash are going and you should totally come too," _explained Kyla.

"_Yeah I think I will, my brothers will probably be there to, just a warning," _joked Spencer.

"_Dually noted,"_ said Ashley smiling.

Spencer got up from her chair and said goodbye to the two sisters before heading back towards her cabin. She was never really a dancer, actually it was one of the things she was most shy about, but for some reason she just felt braver on this trip. _Maybe it's something in the water..._ she thought.

Whatever it was, she found herself getting excited about going to the club that night, and decided then and there that she was going to make the most of this trip and not be so scared and self-conscious like usual.

Dinner with the Carlins that night wasn't much different than back at home in Ohio. Actually, the only real difference was the oriental waiter who served them their food and drinks.

The waiter's name was Martin and he had told the Carlins all about what life was like working on a cruise ship. For the forst six months of the year he lived at home with his family in Orlando. For the last six months of the year he lived on the ship and worked 7 days a week. He was surprisingly enthusiastic about his job despite the intense work schedule.

"_It gets hard not seeing my wife and kids for six months, but hey, it pays the bills,"_ added Martin in a thick accent.

_"Yeah, that's true. Well I'm sure your family can tell how much you love them by working so hard for them. Plus I bet those six months at home are great," _offered Arthur politely, his people skills displaying themselves.

"_Oh definitely, very fun. Do you guys need any more refills?"_ asked the waiter.

"_No thanks, actually I think we're gonna take off, but thank you so much for everything Martin!"_

The waiter nodded and waved goodbye with a huge grin on his face.

Once back in their cabin, the Carlin kids each went back to their own activities. Clay sat out on the balcony, enjoying the view of the ocean just after the sun had set completely.

"_So guy where's the partay tonight?" _asked Glen who had flopped on Spencer's bed as soon as they walked in.

"_Uh my friends told me about this teen night club thing tonight. Apparently all the kids our age are going,"_ explained Spencer, gathering her stuff together for her shower.

_"Sweet! I am so there! Clay you're in right?"_ asked Glen, calling out to the balcony.

"_Yeah sure"_

_ "Where did you hear about it Spence?"_ asked Glen, still lying on his back on her bed.

"_Just some friends i met yesterday," _she answered, not sure whether she wanred to relay too much information about the certain brunette, especially since she was so confused herself.

"_Oh are you talkin about those two hott chicks I saw you walking with earlier?" _asked Glen, sitting up suddenly with a wide grin on his face.

"_Uh yeah, I guess so? When did you see me?"_

"_You guys walked by me and Clay when we were sitting on the deck, you didn't notice us."_

_ "Oh yeah...obviously not"_

_ "But man...those two were smokin'! Especially that one with the curly hair...damn! She had all the right curves...she," _but Spencer cut him off before he could go on.

"_Okay okay I get it, you think she's hott,"_ laughed the blonde.

_"Hell yeah she is! Anyways you have to introduce me Spence!"_

_ "Uh I don't know if she'd be into you...you don't seem like her type."_

"_Spence, I'm anyone's type. Come on, please!"_

_ "I don't know...maybe..."_ but Glen took this as a yes and grew more excited, ignoring Spencer now that he got what he wanted.

The blonde sighed in frustration and picked out her clothes for the night from her suitcase. Spencer quickly entered the bathroom and locked the door before Glen could try and sneak into the shower first.

An hour later Spencer was waiting impatiently for Glen to finish fixing his hair so they could go, since he had insisted that she wait for him. Clay had already left so he could go get a little ice cream first.

"_Glen you are worse than a girl, come on!" _Spencer said, her irritation mostly caused by her increasing nerves.

"_Spencer you can't rush these things, I have to make sure I'm lookin my best for the ladies tonight, especially that friend of yours,"_ he said, winking at the blonde.

"_Whatever, can we just leave before the thing is already over"_

_ "Yup...alright I'm done," _declared Glen, smiling at his reflection in the mirror.

The two made their way down to Medusa's Lair and walked through the glass revolving doors. The sound of loud hip hop music instantly filled their ears as they stepped into the club.

_"Woah...this is the coolest place I have ever seen!," _commented Glen as he looked around in awe.

There was a large bar to their left and chairs and table set up around them. The room was decorated with dark colors and plastic wall pieces of what was supposed to be Medusa's head, with green fake snakes spreading out from the head. There were at least five of the Medusa heads, and they actually looked pretty cool.

Where they were standing was sort of like a loft above the dance floor, and wrapped around three sides of the lower room. The balcony overlooking the room below was made of the metal and plexiglass, and really added to the theme of the club.

Big inward facing booths lined the walls of the upper area, and there were several groups of teens relaxing in them.

A small flight of plexiglass stairs led down directly to the dance floor. The floor itself was clear tiles with lights under them, kind of like the discos used to be.

On the large wall that didn't have and upper area was like a large movie screen and had an equalizer with different colors and patterns which coincided with the music.

To the left of the dance floor was a large lounging area. It was located under the upper bar and was very dark to match with the whole dark, mythical theme.

More booths lined the walls and there were several more tables and chairs; all metal and plexiglass. The colors of the room were deep purples and blues and blacks and really set a certain mood.

Spencer and Glen took in all of the new sights as a new song came on, followed by a similar sounding hip hop song, the bass pumping loudly.

The club was surprisingly crowded with teens who had already formed their little groups in just one day.

Spencer and Glen sat down at the small little bar that overlooked the dance floor. Spencer peered down at the large crowd of teens dancing and sitting in the booths in their groups.

_ Maybe she won't come after all..._ thought Spencer, not sure whether she was relieved or disappointed that she hadn't seen Ashley yet.

Just then she caught sight of the soft brown curls below. Ashley and Kyla were standing near the DJ booth talking and giggling. After a few moments, Kyla noticed Spencer. The blonde watched as Kyla tapped Ashley on the shoulder and then pointed up at her, whispering something in the older girl's ear.

Ashley looked up and Spencer and smiled, offering a small wave. The sisters exchanged a few words, glancing up at Spencer every couple seconds, and then began to walk over to the stairs leading up to where the blonde was sitting.

"_Woah..nice...here comes your friend baby sister. Man she is looking even hotter than before!" _commented Glen, looking Ashley up and down.

_Yeah...she does..._thought Spencer. She noticed her brother undressing the brunette with his eyes and glared at the back of his head.

Ashley and Kyla reached the top of the stairs and began to head over towards Glen and Spencer.

_ Well this should be interesting..._thought the blonde, dreading the upcoming situation which promised to be extremely awkward.


	6. I Saw Her Standing There

**"Well, she was just seventeen, You know what I mean, And the way she looked was way beyond compare, So how could I dance with another, Oh when I saw her standing there  
Well she looked at me, And I, I could see, That before too long I'd fall in love with her,  
She wouldn't dance with another, Oh when I saw her standing there" - the beatles**

Spencer shifted nervously on her stool as Kyla and Ashley approached.

_"Hey Spencer, I'm glad you showed up," _said Ashley, with a hint of shyness in her voice.

The blonde smiled, and then glanced over at Glen who was full on checking out Ashley. The smile quickly fell from Spencer's face. "_Oh, uh this is my brother Glen,"_

_"Hey, I'm Kyla"_

_ "I'm Ashley"_

Glen stuck his hand out towards Ashley with a huge grin on his face, "_Pleasure to meet you ladies!"_ he said glancing back and forth between the two. He clearly thought he had a chance with either of them.

"_Uh yeah you too," _replied Ashley unenthusiastically. She had noticed him drooling over her too.

"_So where are you two lovely ladies from?"_

"_L.A., I actually just moved there from Baltimore, but Ashley has lived there her whole life," answered Kyla._

_ "Aw sweet! Well_ _no wonder you two look like hottie celebrities."_

_ "Yeah…" _said Ashley. She and Kyla looked at each other with a bemused look and tried to contain their laughter at Glen's lame attempt at hitting on them.

"_So anyways…Spencer come dance with us!" _ requested Kyla, her mischievous smile showing itself once again.

Ashley averted her eyes away from Spencer quickly and pretended to watch the big screen on the wall.

Spencer glanced at her only for as to not give herself away to Kyla, and then turned towards the younger brunette.

" _Yeah…sure"_ she said looking back at her brother who was still busying himself with checking out Ashley, he was literally on the verge of drooling.

Ashley turned back towards the three and quickly smiled at Spencer. She then turned and started walking towards the stairs leading down to the dance floor. Kyla and Spencer followed, leaving Glen at the bar. It took him a few moments to realize that he had just been ditched before he called out to his sister as she reached the stairs.

"_Hey…! Spencer?! Not cool!"_

As the girls continued down the stairs Glen considered following them, but he didn't want to seem desperate or anything. So he stayed where he was and scoped around for some other girls he could busy himself with.

Just then a gorgeous blonde caught his eye, and he walked over to her, striking up a conversation with ease.

Ashley led Spencer and Kyla to an empty little corner of the dance floor which was completely crowded with other groups of teens.

"_There are so many people in here!" _Ashley attempted to yell to Spencer over the thumping music and loud conversations of the other groups.

"_What?" _yelled back Spencer, not able to hear her over all of the noise.

"_There are so many people in here!"_

Spencer still didn't hear what Ashley had said. "_What?!"_

Ashley realized that yelling obviously wasn't going to work, so she reached out and gently grabbed Spencer's shoulders, pulling her closer.

As the brunette leaned in Spencer became intoxicated with her amazing scent, she wasn't sure if it was perfume, or shampoo, or if Ashley just naturally smelled amazing. The feeling of Ashley's warm breath on her ear gave Spencer goose bumps as the brunette whispered what she had been trying to say into Spencer's ear.

"_I said, there is a lot of people in here," _spoke Ashley softly, lingering close to the blonde for an extra couple of seconds before pulling back and taking her hands off of her shoulders.

"_Oh" _responded Spencer. She was having some difficulty thinking clearly due to the after-effects of being so close to Ashley.

Ashley smiled at Spencer, her nose crinkling in the most adorable way.

Kyla just stayed quiet, watching the exchange between the two with a grin on her face.

Ashley snapped out of their "moment" and looked over at her sister. Kyla chuckled to herself and continued to glance back and forth between the two.

The current song ended, and the sound of an extremely recognizable song filled the girls' ears.

They instantly smiled at each other and laughed once they all realized what song the D.J. had chosen.

A few people in the club cheered and began singing along with the lyrics. If anybody wasn't singing along, it was out of them being self-conscious and definitely not because they didn't know the words. Everyone knows at least the chorus.

Ashley and Kyla began moving their hips to the beat, still smiling and singing along. Spencer was a little embarrassed since she was not the most confident dancer, so she was a little slow to join the two. But as the song went on the blonde found herself singing along to the lyrics with the sisters, becoming less embarrassed about dancing.

The three girls, as well as the practically the rest of the club, sang probably the most well known line.

"…_Cuz she's just standin there as if I'm shootin free throws,_

_ I said excuse me miss I only wanna buy shoes,_

_ She says I love you Murph especially in the white and blues,_

_I said the white and blues, style nice, make it twice, I signed a autograph thanks for the advice…"_

Once the line was over all three girls busted up laughing. Spencer couldn't help but notice how great of a dancer Ashley was. She was a natural, her body moving with the beat effortlessly. The blonde couldn't keep herself from staring at her, completely entranced.

When the song ended Spencer looked up at where she and Glen had been sitting to see if he was still there.

"_Do you guys see my brother anywhere?" _she asked.

Kyla and Ashley looked around, scanning the crowd until Ashley finally spotted him.

"_Oh yeah…there he is,"_ said Ashley, pointing over to a booth in a dark corner.

Sure enough there he was, sitting entangled with a girl in one of the booths. All Spencer could see of the girl was her long blonde hair. She couldn't tell whose arms and legs were whose.

"_Ew..gosh we've been here like ten minutes and he's already mauling some girl," _said Spencer watching her brother disgusted.

"_He's a guy…you can't really expect much more of him,"_ said Ashley chuckling.

"_Ugh…it's so gross… I don't even know how he gets girls to go for that kind of stuff.." _ commented the blonde, turning away from the sight of her brother sucking face with some random girl.

Ashley and Kyla laughed and looked away from Glen and the girl as well.

The girls went back to their dancing, taking a break every once in a while and talking. Spencer spotted Clay talking to a couple of girls later on while Glen took up dancing dirty with the blonde girl, that is when they weren't in the corner going at it.

As the night wore on, Spencer felt increasingly drawn to Ashley. The sight of her perfect smile and the sound of her voice gave Spencer a fluttering feeling in her stomach and made all of her confidence melt away. She had never felt this way and it confused her and scared the hell out of her at the same time.

As she lay down in her cabin to go to bed that night, she couldn't get the girl out of her mind. Thinking about her perfect figure, that laugh, that smile, that amazing hair, not to mention those gorgeous brown eyes, kept her from falling to sleep. She finally decided to listen to music to help her clear her head, and fell asleep with a grin on her face.

"_I'll be true I'll be useful I'll be cavalier,_

_ I'll be yours my dear and I'll belong to you if you just let me through…"_


	7. Island In the Sun

**"When you're on a golden sea, You don't need no memory, Just a place to call your own, As we drift into the zone, On an island in the sun we'll be playing and having fun, And it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain, We'll run away together, We'll spend some time forever, We'll never feel bad anymore..." – weezer**

Spencer woke up suddenly to the sound of the phone inside of her cabin ringing loud and incessantly. She groaned and made her way out of the small bed and found the phone on the desk.

"_Hello" _answered the blonde groggily.

The way too perky voice of her mother sounded over the phone, "_Good morning honey!"_

_ "Mmhmm"_ replied Spencer, still half asleep.

_ "Well I just called because we are going on a shore excursion today and you and your brothers need to get up and get ready okay?" _explained Paula.

_ "Where are we going?"_

_ "We're at the port at an island called Barbados and we're going to go into town and shop around and stuff."_

_ "Oh...okay"_

_ "Alrighty, we're going to be getting off in about an hour and fifteen minutes so if you could wake up your brothers, that would be great. We are going to meet at the buffet for breakfast in 45 minutes so get going please."_

_ "Ok," _answered Spencer yawning.

"_Oh and you three should wear your bathing suits just in case alright?"_

"_Yup"_

"_Okay see you in a little while"_

"_Okay bye_," Spencer hung up the phone and glanced around at her sleeping brothers. She couldn't help but giggle a little bit at the sight of Glen all sprawled out on his back on the tiny pull-out bed. If she wasn't mistaken she could see a bit of drool coming out of his wide-open mouth and a big wet spot on the pillow.

_He's so nasty sometimes...even when he's _asleep thought the blonde as she made her way into the bathroom.

She took a half hour to herself to get ready, and then woke up Glen and Clay. The three made their way down to the buffet and sat down at their parents' table.

"_Hey guys, did you sleep well?" _asked Arthur smiling.

They all nodded in response. _"Oh yeah!"_ exclaimed Glen. Spencer had to hold back her laughter at his comment, remembering how ridiculous he had looked an hour before.

Arthur and Paula had already gotten their food, so the younger Carlins got up and got into the extending line. When they had almost reached the front of the line Spencer spotted a familiar brunette walking by.

_ "Hey Kyla_!" said the blonde smiling

_ "Oh hey Spencer, how's it going?"_

_ "Alright, you?"_

_ "I'm good,"_

_ "Well good morning gorgeous_," interjected Glen, grinning at Kyla.

_ "Uh...hey Glen_," responded Kyla, not really sure what to say.

_ "Glen, just let the girls talk_," instructed Clay

"_Alright fine," _said Glen holding up his hands, "_I'll catch ya later Kyla," _he added, winking at her as he turned away.

"_Anyways.."_ said Kyla laughing.

"_Yeah sorry about that...," _apologized Spencer. "_Oh..uh where's Ashley?" _she added, trying to sound nonchalant.

Kyla smiled at her for a moment, then replied, _"She's still sleeping," _

_ "Really?" _giggled Spencer.

"_Yeah…I tried to wake her up but she just mumbled some cuss words at me and put the pillow over her head," _explained Kyla.

"_Oh, I see"_

_ "Yeah. So are you going to the shore today?"_

_ "Yeah, my family and I are going to the town or whatever to check it out,"_

"_Oh cool, yea if Ashley ever wakes up I think we're gonna go to the beach or something."_

"_Sweet! I don't know if I'll get to go down there, my mom gets carried awat sometimes when it comes to shopping in new places, plus she's not a huge fan of the beach,"_

_ "Well if you can get away for a while, you should come down and hang out with us,"_

_ "Yeah, that would be really fun; I'll see what I can do. Where do you think you guys will be?"_

_ "Uh...I really don't know. And our cells don't get service here..."_

The girls thought for a few moments about how they could meet up as Spencer was just about up to the food.

"_Oh I've got it!" _exclaimed Kyla, "_Me and Ash won't be leaving till later on, so how about we meet you on the dock outside the ship around one or so and then we can all just go down to the beach together."_

"_Okay that sounds good, I'm sure my mom will let me go with you guys, and if she doesn't I'll still come down and let you know okay?"_

_ "Alrighty sounds good, I'll make sure that I get Ashley up and around in time," _laughed Kyla.

"_Good luck, I'll see ya later then"_

_ "Okay. Have fun with your fam, bye"_ said the brunette before walking away.

Spencer and her brothers got their food and then rejoined their parents at their table.

"_Spencer honey, is that girl you were talking to one of your new friends?" _asked Paula in a curious tone.

"_Oh yeah, that's Kyla. She's here with her sister Ashley; I've been hanging out with them a little bit,"_

_ "That's great dear, I'm glad you've found some other girls your age to hang out with. She looks like a nice girl,"_

_ "Yeah, she's cool,"_

_ "And hott!" _added Glen.

Paula just looked at Glen sternly and shook her head while Arthur and Clay chuckled quietly. Spencer figured this was as good of time as any to ask her mom about hanging out with Kyla and Ashley at the beach, so she waited until all the conversations died down for a second and turned to her mother, "_Um mom, Kyla was wondering if I could go to the beach with her and Ashley after we were done in town today, do you think I could go?"_

_ "I don't know Spencer, we are at some foreign country and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with you wandering around by yourself with some girls you just met," _explained Paula.

"_Mom please, we are just going to the beach, we're not going to wander off anywhere,"_

_ "I don't know...you would still be going off alone with people you just met,"_

_"How about Clay and I go with you Spencer, you know to keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe,"_ offered Glen.

_"What? No!" _refuted Spencer. She did not like the idea of Glen following them around constantly trying to hit on Kyla and Ashley.

"_Actually that is a great idea. Spencer you can only go if your brothers go too. Now lets get going so we don't have to wait in a huge line to get off," _said Paula.

The Carlins all got up from their table and traveled to one of the lower decks following behind Paula. Spencer was pretty upset about the recent development, and Clay could tell, so he made an attempt to comfort her by whispering in her ear, "_Don't worry Spence, I'll make sure he doesn't bug you guys. I'll take him down the beach or something to go find some other girls, okay?"_

_"That would be so great, thanks Clay," _replied Spencer. She really loved how understanding he was.

The Carlins got off of the ship after an extensive amount of security measures and made their way towards the town. They could hear loud music coming from a band that was playing outside near all the buildings. As they approached the town, there were several different stands that had various items for sale. There was even a cart that sold a specific brand of rum and rum cake while several people surrounded it, buying shots and mixed drinks and laughing loudly.

The colors on the buildings were amazing; different shades of browns, reds, yellows, oranges, and greens covered the walls of the various shops and restaurants.

The culture here was so amazing and incredibly different than America. The Carlins walked around exploring the various shops and souvenir stands for hours. The kids all picked out souvenirs for their friends back in Ohio, as promised.

After they got done exploring pretty much every building in the little town, they decided to stop in at a little restaurant before heading back to the ship. It was an extremely festive little place, where the waiters sang loudly and played pranks on the customers. It was the most fun Spencer had ever had eating out with her family. There could never be a place like this in America, too many uptight people who would probably sue them for the harmless pranks.

The Carlins took extra time finishing their meal so they could fully enjoy the atmosphere of the charming little restaurant. Once they had finished they headed out of the town and back towards the ship. Spencer felt herself grow increasingly nervous as they got closer and closer to the dock. Not only due to the fact that she was going to be spending time with Ashley, but also her annoying brothers, well brother, were going to be tagging along.

When they finally reached the entrance to the ship it was a little early, and Spencer was relieved to find that Kyla and Ashley weren't there yet. Paula and Arthur were getting ready to enter back onto the ship, but not before Paula turned around to face the kids.

_"Alright kids, now I don't want you guys wandering off into the town or anything. And Spencer, you have to stay with your brothers, I am just not comfortable with you going off with some girls you just met alone, okay?" _instructed Paula sternly.

_"Ok mom..."_ replied Spencer. She wished her parents would just hurry up and leave, they were making her even more nervous.

_"Also, make sure that you guys get back in plenty of time. I don't want you trying to get on last minute right before the ship is supposed to leave, you hear me?"_

_"We know mom, we'll be back in time," a_ssured Clay. He was well aware of the fact that his parents seemed a lot more at ease when he promised them that they would be careful, since he was the responsible one out of the three.

_"Okay then...you kids be safe! If something happens you just come back to the ship okay?"_

"_Okay"_ said the three Carlin kids almost in unison.

Arthur and Paula said their goodbyes and headed into the entrance and to the security area on the ship. Relieved that they were finally gone, Spencer looked around to make sure that the girls hadn't arrived yet. Not spotting them, the blonde sat down on a nearby bench and began focusing on calming nerves. She didn't know why Ashley made her so nervous, but she couldn't help it.

Clay and Glen soon joined Spencer on the bench she was sitting on, and the boys began a conversation about all the hot girls they had seen on the island and their plans to hit on them. Spencer sat quietly, her back to the ship, lost in her own thoughts. Suddenly Spencer head Glen whistle and say to Clay, "_Holy mother of Mary...damn!!!"_

Spencer turned around to the direction he was looking to find out what he was going on about now, and then she realized ho he had been referring to. Her breath caught a little at the sight of the two girls approaching…Ashley looked absolutely amazing, even in her beach clothes. She had on a short black tank top that showed pretty much her entire stomach and extremely short cut off jean shorts over her bikini. Her curly hair was put up lazily in a messy bun, but somehow it looked perfect. A pair of large black, expensive looking sunglasses tied the whole outfit together, and each one of the Carlin kids couldn't take their eyes off of her.

_"Hey hey party people_," said Ashley as the girls had nearly reached Spencer and her brothers.

Spencer was having a little difficulty regaining her ability to speak, her eyes still locked on the brunette. Glen was able to recover before Spencer and replied, _"Well hello ladies!"_

_"Uh, hey Glen, hey Clay_," responded Ashley clearly confused as to why the boys were there. "_Hey Spence,"_ she said turning towards the blonde smiling.

Thankfully Spencer gained the ability to speak just in time,"_Hey Ash, hey Kyla"_ she replied, glancing at the younger brunette who looked very pretty too, but she wasn't even comparable to Ashley.

_"Hey Spencer!"_ said Kyla, smiling brightly at the blonde.

"_Oh yeah...uh guys i hope you don't mind, but my mom would only let me come if my brothers came too, so that's why they're tagging along, I'm sorry,"_ explained Spencer, a little nervous as to what they were thinking about the guys being there.

"_Oh hey it's cool, no prob Spence,"_ assured Ashley, responding a little too quickly which made Spencer blush slightly.

"_Okay...so where do you guys wanna go?"_ asked Spencer.

"_Um we're not really sure, I think we were just going to walk around and find an empty space,"_ answered Kyla.

"_Sweet, let's get this show on the road!"_ said Glen enthusiastically.

_"Alright..."_ giggled Kyla.

The group began to walk towards the shore, led by Glen who was attempting to charm Kyla. Clay followed behind him, leaving Spencer and Ashley in the back of the group together.

"_So how was sleeping in?"_ asked the blonde playfully.

"_Sleeping in? Pshh that was early for me!"_ replied the brunette smiling.

"_What before noon is early for you?"_

_"Yeah...hey I like my beauty sleep thank you very much,"_

_"Yeah I can tell,"_ replied the blonde. She realized how that sounded right after she said it and was immediately filled with embarrassment, hoping that Ashley hadn't thought of it that way.

"_Oh why thank you,"_ responded the brunette, turning to wink at Spencer. "_But I can see why you don't sleep in; you don't need any more beauty sleep."_

Spencer blushed and was unsure whether Ashley was just being friendly or if she was in fact flirting. Although, Spencer wasn't completely sure which one she wanted it to be herself. All of these feelings she was experiencing over Ashley were extremely confusing for her, yet enticing at the same time. All she knew is that whatever these feelings were, she sure as heck didn't want them to go away anytime soon.


	8. New

**"I've never had this taste in my mouth, oh you're different, you're different from the former, like a fresh battery I'm energized by you.. don't let it go away, this feeling has got to stay, and I can't believe I've had this chance now, don't let it go away.." - No Doubt**

_ "It looks like they found a spot,"_ observed Ashley. The group had made their way to the beach and had been looking for a nice spot to lay out their stuff. Kyla and Glen had reached it first and had already begun setting out their towels and getting ready to go into the water.

Spencer and Ashley had lagged behind the group a little bit, chatting about nothing of too much importance. The blonde didn't really mind, they could have walked in complete silence and she would have still had the fluttering feeling in her stomach.

When the two girls finally reached the spot where the others had lain down their stuff they were still alone since Kyla, Glen, and Clay had all already striped off their over-clothes and run into the water. They laid out their towels on the sand next to each other and then looked up at each other.

"_Uh...wh...what do you wanna d-do..?" _stammered Spencer nervously, becoming even more embarrassed after not even being able to speak clearly. Her speaking ability definitely reflected what was going on in her mind. She couldn't even focus on eve one clear thought.

Nobody had ever had this effect on her, which added to her mixed up thoughts, especially since Spencer had never "liked" a girl before. All of these overwhelming thoughts were confusing her on a whole new level.

"_Uh..I don't know. I don't really want to get in the water just yet, so… I think I'm just gonna lay out for a little bit. What about you?"_ responded Ashley, snapping Spencer out of her daze and rescuing her from her own mind before she became completely consumed.

"_Oh...uh...y-yeah that sounds good,"_

Ashley maintained eye contact with the blonde for a moment with a small grin on her face before she finally lay down on her back on her towel. Spencer followed Ashley's lead and did the same.

The two lay about a foot apart on their respective towels in silence. Ashley with her eyes closed, and Spencer with her head tilted slightly towards the brunette so she could sneak glances out of the corner of her eye without being completely obvious.

She had never acted this way before, but it was like her body was on autopilot or like she had been possessed by some other, braver person. Whatever it was, she was captivated by her gorgeous companion. Her eyes were drawn to her perfect, fit figure, her amazing tanned skin, and of course those enticing lips.

_Wait...why am I thinking about her lips? What is wrong with me? _thought the blonde suddenly, growing uncomfortable. She quickly turned her head so she was looking straight up towards the cloudless sky and closed her eyes. She needed to think about something else before things got really awkward.

_"So...Spencer, what grade are you in?" _asked Ashley, casually breaking the silence.

"_Uh I'm a freshman actually. You?" _

_ "Sophomore"_

_ "Cool"_

_ "So what's your school like?"_

_ "Well, I actually go to a private school. It's pretty small and a little weird, since I have gone to public school pretty much my whole life until this year,"_

_ "Oh really? Why do you go there?"_

_ "Well actually, because of my brother Glen. He's a sophomore and the school has a really good basketball team, so he figured he'd get a lot more attention for scholarships on a good team from a small school. And Clay thinks it's great for the academics and wanted to transfer too, so I had to go,"_

_ "Ah, so the typical jock vibe I got from your brother wasn't off then,"_

_ "I guess not," _chuckled Spencer in response.

"_So do you like the school?" _asked the brunette.

"_Well I don't know, it's definitely different. The people are alright, but it sucks dating wise since it's so small, not too many choices," _explained the blonde.

"_Yeah I bet, although it's kind of hard to believe that you would have a problem with that sort of thing,"_ offered Ashley, hoping that she had succeeded in making it sound casual.

"_Ha yeah right, well what about you? I find it pretty strange that you're single too," _responded Spencer before she even realized what she was saying. Apparently her body was working on autopilot again.

"_I know right?...I'm kidding...I don't know, I just don't date around that much, everyone is so caught up in the lame one week relationship thing, and I'm just not into that,"_

_ "Yeah I totally get what you mean, I'm not either," _Spencer was surprised at how fast she began to feel comfortable talking to Ashley. Conversation between the two felt so natural to her, like they had known each other forever.

Spencer saw out of the corner of her eye Ashley turn her head towards her and smile, just looking at her for a few moments. Spencer finally turned her head towards Ashley as well, and they held eye contact for a few seconds before Ashley sat up. Spencer waited for a few moments and then sat up as well. Ashley was looking out at the water, biting her bottom lip as if she was deep in thought. She suddenly turned to Spencer, a thought just occurring to her.

"_Hey come on, let's go swimming,"_ she said, a mischievous smile on her face not too different from the one Kyla seemed to have a lot. Ashley got to her feet and then walked over in front of Spencer, holding her hands out to help her up.

Spencer smiled and took the brunette's hands as she pulled her up. She couldn't help but notice how soft Ashley's hands were and how nice they felt in her own. Once Spencer was on her feet Ashley let go of her left hand, her right still lingering on Spencer's before moving it to her shoulder to lead her forwards.

She raised her eyebrows at Spencer in the most adorable way before jogging ahead of her to the water. Spencer lagged behind a little bit, the fluttering in her stomach was at full force at all of the physical contact with Ashley.

The older girl turned around, noticing that Spencer wasn't keeping up. She ran back towards the blonde, grabbed her arm and lead her to the water, "_Come on slow poke."_

The two finally reached the water and Ashley let go, running ahead into the warm, gentle waves. Spencer just stayed back, the water only up to her ankles; she was always slow to get into the water whether it was a pool, the lake, or whatever. Ashley noticed Spencer hadn't followed once again and ran back towards her.

_ "Am I going to have to throw you in, cuz I so will!"_ threatened Ashley grinning.

"_Yeah right, there's no way you could throw me in,"_ challenged the blonde.

"_Alright...but you asked for it..."_ Ashley responded. She just stood in front of Spencer, and then said, "_Last chance..."_

Spencer just shook her head; she had definitely become fully possessed or was in full control of whatever had been causing the different behavior when she was around Ashley.

Ashley waited a few seconds, and then made her move, catching Spencer slightly off guard. The brunette ducked down and wrapped her arms around Spencer's stomach, turning her so her back was facing the water and pushing her backwards like a football player attempting to tackle someone.

The blonde backpedaled for a few feet, the water getting increasingly deeper, until Ashley had successfully tackled her down into the waves. Once in under the water, Ashley loosened her grip, but didn't completely let go of Spencer's waist until they came back up to the surface. The two girls laughed until they had completely lost their breath, their bodies bobbing with the gentle waves.

Once their giggle fit was over Spencer gazed at the gorgeous brunette. She wasn't really sure what was going on, but she definitely liked it. Ashley snapped her out of her daze by wiggling her eyebrows, causing the blonde to crack up once again.

Suddenly Spencer found herself moving towards Ashley in the water, and then successfully dunking her head underneath the surface in revenge. But the brunette wasn't going to just let her win, so she surprised Spencer by grabbing her leg and pulling her down under as well. The two came back up to the surface once again, completely out of breath from being under the water and laughing hysterically.

The girls eventually finished their playful attacks on each other and got out of the water, joining Kyla and Spencer's brothers. As the day wore on, the five of them talked about basically everything, joked around, swam some more, and even played a little bit of beach volleyball.

As the afternoon was winding down the group made their way back to the ship and stopped at the main deck to say their goodbyes before going back to their respective rooms.

"_So you guys are going to the club again tonight right?"_ asked Kyla.

"_Yeah definitely, we'll see you guys there,"_ responded Spencer. The amazing afternoon had put her in a great mood.

"_Okay, see you guys in a lil bit,"_

They said the rest of their goodbyes and parted ways. Spencer couldn't contain the grin that she had been wearing on her face all afternoon. Her brothers had definitely noticed and Glen finally decided to ask her about it.

"_Well I can definitely tell you had fun today," _he commented.

"_Yeah it was great!"_

_"You and Ashley definitely seem to be hitting it off,"_

"_What do you mean..?"_ replied Spencer quickly; growing nervous all of the sudden at the thought that somehow Glen had caught the vibe between the two girls.

"_Nothing I just mean you seem to have become good friends really fast, that's cool," _he said, confused by her strange behavior all of the sudden.

"_Oh yeah, I know it's weird isn't it," _she said, certainly relieved.

The kids reached their rooms and relaxed for a bit, watching the ship deport before they had to start getting ready for the club. Spencer lay on her bed, thinking of all of the things that had happened that afternoon and wondered how the rest of the night was going to play out.


	9. I Could Fall In Love

**"I could lose my heart tonight, if you don't turn and walk away, cuz the way I feel I might lose control and let you stay, cuz I could take you into my arms and never let go.." - Selena**

Spencer scanned the crowded club for what seemed the hundredth time in the last hour looking for Ashley and Kyla. The girls had said they would be there, and the club had been going on for a little bit over an hour. This type of thing was never a big deal to Spencer, she was always really laid back; but something about Ashley just made her completely different.

She found herself acting and even thinking in ways that were completely new to her. She had never _liked_ a girl before; at least she didn't think so. Sure she had always had an appreciation for the female figure, and she found herself attracted to girls every now and then, but she just figured it was out of envy or just because she noticed how pretty they were, nothing else.

But with Ashley it was different, it wasn't like any feeling she had ever had about any girl, or even a guy. She felt that these feelings that she was experiencing, that they were something that she had been searching for all along, and that they finally made her whole. Everything was so overwhelmingly confusing and scary, and despite this, she couldn't help but want to be around the brunette more and more.

So as the time kept passing and the girls still weren't showing up, Spencer couldn't help but feel really disappointed. She was shy enough dancing with friends, so she certainly wasn't ready to go solo, so she made her way over to an empty seat near the dance floor. The blonde regressed to one of her most favorite hobbies: people watching.

The night club setting certainly made for a much more entertaining display. Once again everyone had separated into their little groups, and were dancing and giggling and flirting with people in the other groups. It was amazing how fast some people had managed to hook up, there were already handfuls of couples making out in their little dark corners of the room.

After a few minutes of people watching Spencer realized that she hadn't seen either of her brothers since they had first arrived. She scanned around the room for a glimpse of either one of them, spotting Clay first. He was dancing with a very pretty black girl on the dance floor. Spencer couldn't help but feel happy for Clay; he wasn't really a ladies man, so she was glad to see that he had met somebody. Next she continued to look around for Glen, but couldn't see him anywhere. Then, to her immediate displeasure, she spotted a person she had hoped to never see again, and what was worse was she saw something that made the whole thing even worse.

Bryce was sitting in a small group of people, mostly girls, and was talking loudly about something that was apparently very funny due to the constant giggles of the girls near him. He had his arm around a blonde who was a little on the chubby side, but she was dressed very slutty so it obviously didn't matter to Bryce. On the boy's left was none other than Glen who was laughing at whatever Bryce was saying as well, his arm around a different blonde than the night before.

Spencer didn't know whether to be more grossed out at Glen hooking up with random girls, or the fact that he was friends with Bryce. To make matters worse, Bryce had apparently gone out onto the island as well because his normally fluffy blonde hair was completely wrapped into several small, tight braids all over his head. Yes, he had paid some person to corn-row his hair. Spencer wanted to laugh and throw up at the same time.

The blonde quickly grew tired of watching the disturbing scene, so she decided to look around for Kyla and Ashley once more to no avail. The girls were still not there, and Spencer seriously began to wonder what was going on. She was feeling pretty lame for being a sulky loner on vacation, so she began to look around for some new people she could possibly hang out with because she definitely did not want to waste the short amount of time she had on this amazing cruise.

Spencer glanced to her right and spotted a pretty cute skater-looking boy. He was wearing a pair of long shorts and a white ACDC shirt complete with some extremely beat up checkered vans slip-ons. He had a fairly long, straight shag style hair cut that actually worked well for him. In fact, if she was not mistaken, the blonde thought he resembled Ryan Cabrera a little bit.

He had that whole sweet boy look about him, not to mention he was a cutie. He looked over and noticed the blonde looking at him, making eye contact with her. She offered an inviting smile which he returned before coming over to sit next to her.

_"Hey, I'm Ryan,"_ he said, offering his hand for her to shake.

"_Spencer,"_ replied the blonde, taking his hand.

"_So you look like you're having lots of fun," _commented the boy smiling.

"_Oooh yeah.."_ replied Spencer, reflecting the boy's grin.

"_So did you come here alone or did you get ditched?"_

_ "Well I came here with my brothers, but they're occupied at the moment,"_ explained Spencer, pointing first at Clay who was still on the dance floor, and then over to Glen who was now wrapped up in a full on make-out session with the girl who had been sitting next to him. She was definitely very friendly, as she was now on his lap and Spencer couldn't tell whose hands were whose.

"_Ah..I see.."_ said Ryan, turning his gaze away from the near-pornographic scene in the corner. "_So that one, is he adopted or..?" _asked the boy pointing at Clay.

"_Oh Clay? Yeah my parents adopted him when he was little, he's really great."_

_ "That's cool. And what about the other one?"_

_ "Glen, well...he can be actually be a pretty cool guy, but he definitely has his moments,"_

_ "Yeah I can see that," _commented Ryan laughing.

"_So what about you, did you come with anyone?"_ inquired the blonde.

"_Kind of, I came on the cruise with my older brother and his girlfriend, they're like 20, but I came to the club by myself. But I met this really cool group of like fifteen kids and I've been hanging out with them a lot,"_

_ "Oh I see,"_

_ "What about you, have you just been hanging out with your brothers or by yourself?"_

_ "Well actually I met these two girls that are pretty cool, and I've been hanging out with them so far, but for some reason they haven't shown up tonight so I'm by myself,"_

_ "Oh that sucks...well do you want to dance?"_ asked Ryan, standing up and offering her his hand once again.

The offer sort of took Spencer by surprise since his whole skater look didn't really give her the impression that he was much of a dancer, especially to rap music. She hesitated for a moment, considering his offer, but she soon accepted, taking his hand and smiling up at him. He did look like Ryan Cabrera, but a little bit cuter.

As they made their way to and empty place on the dance floor, Spencer subconsciously checked around the club again for any sign of either one of the girls. Still not there.

They reached a spot right as the song was changing, and soon the sounds of the song "Get Low" filled the club. The two smiled at the song choice and began dancing to the familiar beat. Ryan wasn't the best dancer, in fact he looked a little bit awkward, but Spencer thought it was cute that he tried anyways. When the chorus came on the two sang along, their arms over their heads pointing to the left and then the right, or the "window to the wall." The blonde was actually having a lot of fun with him; the sweet guy vibe she had picked up on was definitely accurate.

"_You know who you look like?" _shouted Spencer over the loud music.

"_Who?"_

_ "Ryan Cabrera"_

_ "Who is that?"_

_ "You know the guy that sings that on the way down song, Ashlee Simpson's boyfriend,"_

_ "Oh yeah I think I know who you're talking about. The dude with spikey hair?"_

_ "Yeah! That's him, I swear you look exactly like him"_

_ "Oh...well thanks? I think,"_

_ "Don't worry, he's not ugly or anything so it's not an insult,"_

_ "Oh okay good,"_

Spencer couldn't help but notice how cute he was more and more, but something in the back of her mind made her feel weird about flirting with him, she almost felt guilty. Not wanting it to ruin her good time, the blonde shook those thoughts from her head.

The two danced for basically the rest of the time the club was open to teens, stopping every once in a while to get something to drink or it a dumb song came on. When the DJ announced it was the last song the two stood on the crowded dance floor waiting to hear what the song of choice would be. Surprisingly it turned out not to be some rap song, but American Idiot by Green Day.

The song had just come out recently and Spencer had only heard it once or twice, but apparently it was one of Ryan's favorite songs as he excitedly began to jump up and down. Spencer smiled at his cute little dancing before he reached out and grabbed her hands so she would join him.

The two were not the only ones dancing, however many of the black and other rapper kids left the floor. But also many kids who hadn't danced the entire night, the more "punk" kids, flooded the floor and began a sort of mosh pit, jumping up and down and shoving each other. Spencer was having a lot of fun with Ryan, and she was a little disappointed when the song ended, signaling that it was time for the underage kids to leave since the adult club would be starting soon.

Spencer followed Ryan out of the club and up to a large group of kids, apparently the ones that he had been referring to earlier.

_"What's up guys,"_ Ryan said to the nearest guy.

"_Not much dude, we are going to go to the upper deck outside and start a fat game of tag, are you guys in?_ " asked the boy.

Ryan looked over at Spencer, checking to see if she was up for it. She smiled and nodded at him and then turned to the boy,_ "Oh yeah, we're in."_

_"Okay sweet, well we're all heading up there right now,"_

_"Alright cool," _responded Spencer.

The group crammed into one elevator and made their way up to their destination. When they arrived, there wasn't anyone on this particular deck other than the large group Spencer was with and a couple other groups there for the game.

The blonde looked around at all the other people there before she spotted the two people she had been looking for all night. Ashley caught sight of her at nearly the same time and waved at her, calling her over. Spencer looked back at Ryan to tell her she'd be right back, but he was currently in a pretty interesting conversation with another boy by the looks of it, so she decided just to go.

When she reached the brunette she saw that she was with a group of people, but Kyla wasn't anywhere nearby.

"_Where's Kyla?"_ asked Spencer.

"_Oh she's over there with some other people," _answered Ashley, pointing to her left over to where Kyla was conversing with a small group of kids Spencer hadn't seen before.

"_Oh okay. So where were you tonight, I was looking for you at the club but you never came?" _inquired Spencer, trying not to sound upset or desperate or anything.

"_I'm sorry Spence, Kyla wanted to go play basketball with some guys that asked her, and I had to go with her," _explained Ashley. Her excuse sounded valid enough.

"_Oh it's cool. Actually you should probably be glad you weren't there so and din't have to see Glen mauling some nasty blonde girl,"_

_"Ew, yeah you're right. But I feel bad about standing you up," _responded Ashley sincerely.

Spencer knew there was no way she could stay mad at Ashley, especially when she really did sound sorry.

"_Oh it's cool, no worries. So you here to play tag?"_

_"Yeah, I wonder when we're gonna start though?"_

As if on cue a boy spoke up to all of the kids who had gathered. "_Hey...guys! Hey listen up, shut up! Alright well we're gonna split up into teams and get going, so just try and make them as even as possible so it's fair."_

The kids began to form two teams and Spencer and Ashley just stood there for a few moments, not sure which on to join.

Out of nowhere Spencer felt Ashley reach down and grab her hand, interlacing their fingers and smiling over at her. "_Here, you can be on my team,"_

Spencer was taken completely off guard, but smiled back at her and nodded. Ashley just grinned at her and then led her towards one of the groups, still clutching her hand. The fluttering feeling in Spencer's stomach was going full force, making her a little bit dizzy, but in a good way.

The kids were pretty unorganized, and the girls just stood together and talked a little about their nights as they waited for things to get going. Some younger boys were already running around and yelling loudly, drawing the attention of some security guards. As the guards made their way towards the huge group of kids, they all began to scatter into separate directions.

"_Oh shit...come on Spence let's get out of here!" _said Ashley as soon as she spotted the guards approaching and everyone running off. The brunette pulled Spencer in through a double door to the inside and then down some stairs that took them near the hallway that led up to the arcade.

The girls stopped running and looked behind them as they caught their breath. Seeing that they weren't being followed the girls relaxed a little, and then started cracking up at how ridiculous it was to actually run away. What would they have even gotten in trouble for?

Once their giggles had subsided, Spencer became suddenly aware of the fact that they were still holding hands and was hit with a sudden wave of insecurity. Ashley sensed the weird tension and immediately let go of the blonde's hand.

_"Uh..do you um..wanna go see where everyone went_?" asked the brunette in an attempt to end the akwardness.

_"Yeah..sure,"_

The girls rounded to corner to the "forest" hallway and spotted a large group of the kids from outside. They made their way over and found a spot to sit as they were greeted by everyone. Ryan was sitting among all of the other kids and greeted Spencer enthusiastically when he saw her.

The blonde had completely forgotten about him with all the excitement and being with Ashley, and she felt sort of bad for ditching him. For some reason, now that Ashley was sitting with her, Ryan all of the sudden wasn't quite as appealing as he had been before. She didn't know whether it had to do with the confusing feelings she was experiencing over Ashley, or if she had just been caught up in the moment earlier.

The group sat in the hallway and talked for a good hour and a half just getting to know each other. Spencer was actually having a lot of fun hanging out with all of these new, exciting people, not to mention the subtle flirty glances she and Ashley were giving each other the entire time.

As it got later and later, different people in the group said their goodbyes and made their way back to their respective rooms.

_"Hey, I should probably head back to my room," _spoke the blonde softly to Ashley.

"_Oh alright,"_ replied the brunette.

"_What time do you have to get back?"_ asked Spencer.

"_I actually don't have a specific curfew; my mom doesn't really care much about Kyla and me, or what we do. But I should probably get going too so I can find my sister,"_

_"Oh, ok. Well do you wanna get going then?"_

_"Yeah, come on, I'll walk you to the elevator," _answered the brunette, standing up and offering her hands to Spencer to help her up. Spencer obliged, and couldn't help but notice how good Ashley's hands felt in her own. As the girls began making their way around everyone else's chairs they said their goodbyes and made plans to meet up in the same place the next morning.

Spencer and Ashley walked in a comfortable silence to the elevator, stopping just in front of it.

_"Well I had fun tonight, and I'm sorry again about the club," _said Ashley quietly, looking directly into Spencer's blue eyes.

"_Hey, like I said it's fine,"_ assured the blonde smiling and meeting Ashley's gaze.

Ashley averted her eyes after a few seconds and wrapped Spencer into a quick hug before pulling back again. _"Well I'd better get going so I can find Kyla,"_

_"Uh...alright, well I'll see you tomorrow?"_

_"Yeah totally, alright well goodnight," _said Ashley in a rushed tone. She gave the blonde a quick grin and then walked off.

Spencer was more confused than ever at the weird way Ashley was acting, but decided not to read too much into it. She had a bad habit of over-analyzing things which caused her a whole lot of unnecessary stress.

The blonde made it back to her room only to find it completely empty. Apparently her brothers were still out doing Lord knows what. She decided that she would rather not know and changed into her pj's before grabbing her CD player and getting into her tiny little bed. She knew that she definitely had too much going on in her mind to be able to fall asleep without a little assistance, so she fell asleep to the soothing sounds of Dashboard Confessional once again.

..._Color the coast with your smile it's the most genuine thing I've ever seen, I was so lost but now I believe..._


	10. Something In the Way She Moves

**"Something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover, something in the way she woos me, I don't want to leave her now, you know I believe, and how.." - The Beatles**

It was the morning of the fourth day of the cruise, and Spencer was starting to feel that maybe, just maybe, things would turn out good for her for once.

She had been on only one other cruise, two years before, to the West Caribbean. The Carlins had stopped at a couple little islands and some place on the coast of Mexico. It had been plenty fun, but Spencer couldn't help but be disappointed with the way things had turned out during that trip. She had been her usual shy self around all of the new people. Sure she made friends to hang out with, but that wasn't really the problem. She had met someone, a boy actually, his name was Jacob.

He was Hispanic and very, very cute. Spencer instantly had a crush on him from when they had first met. She and Jacob had hung out basically the entire time they were on the ship, and she really liked him. However, by the time she realized that she had more-than-friends feelings for him, he had already gotten together with another girl, and Spencer never had the guts to tell him how she felt.

She was never one to regret anything in her life, but she always did regret never telling Jacob that she liked him and being so shy. She couldn't help but wonder how differently things could have turned out if she had just let go of all of her fears and insecurities, the regret wasn't even really about Jacob after a while. It became more about the nagging feeling that she wasn't really living her life to the fullest, that instead she was just playing it safe and waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen.

Going into this trip, the blonde had promised herself that things would be different this time. She wasn't going to be shy or hold anything back. This was probably one of the only opportunities in her life where she could do anything or act however she wanted and not have to worry about the consequences or what people thought, because after these eight days she would never see any of them again.

This approach also applied to meeting somebody she liked. She definitely was _not_ going to let another great opportunity go by and wonder what if. So even though the feelings about Ashley were completely confusing, since she never thought she was gay, she was no going to write anything off. She always over-analyzed situations and in the end prevented herself from doing things that she wanted. This week, however, she was not about to let that happen. She was going to go after what she wanted, even if it made no sense. No regrets.

So when the blonde got up that morning, with the cruise half over, she became even more determined to go after what she wanted. _No holding back, s_he thought, deciding to make that her mantra for the rest of the trip.

She searched around for a clock somewhere in the room since her the time on her cell was thrown off from having absolutely no service. She finally spotted the elusive alarm clock and saw that she still had two hours or so before the group was supposed to meet. _Okay...so what am I supposed to do until then..._wondered the blonde.

On the dresser next to the clock were some different brochures and itinerary papers for the trip. She figured since she didn't really have much else to do, and she couldn't watch t.v. because Glen and Clay were still snoring away, that she might as well read up a little bit on the ship.

She grabbed the different papers and made her way back to her little bed to check them out. The first few things on top of the pile were just ads for the spa and different restaurants. As she made her way through the stack she finally found something worth looking at, a map of the ship.

_Welcome to Carnival Legend, a member of our Fun Ships fleet. We hope you enjoy your stay and remember, on Carnival Cruises, at any one moment there are thousands of ways to have fun...blah blah blah,_ Spencer read to herself from the front page of the folded up brochure containing the deck plans. She opened it up to reveal a full page showing a map of the various decks on the ship. She scanned the pictures, going over the various places she had explored along with those she had not. She came across the name of the night club, _Medusa's Lounge...well at least that sounds kinda cool. _Next she saw the arcade and the forest themed hallway that led up to it. Apparently it was named the Enchanted Forest_, at least it's not lame or anything,_ thought Spencer sarcastically.

After looking over the map and the activities schedule for the trip for a good half hour, the blonde decided to start getting ready for what she figured would probably turn out to be a pretty interesting day. She anticipated that her new attitude towards things would definitely be a contributing factor in spicing thing up.

By the time she had taken a shower and gotten ready for the day it was just about time to meet up in the _Enchanted Forest._ She left her room as quietly as possible so she wouldn't wake up her brothers and inevitably have to answer a bunch of questions about what she was doing.

Since she was a few minutes ahead of schedule, the blonde decided to take the long way to the meeting place and explore a little on her way. _Lito Deck_, said the accented voice again in the elevator as the doors opened to the deck below.

She hadn't explored this deck yet, so as she made her way towards the front of the ship she made sure to take in all of the different sights and places along the way.

Apparently there was a library and even a wedding chapel. _These boats really think of everything,_ she thought as she passed the small chapel. She could hear the distinctive rings and chimes of the casino as she was at the middle of the ships length. It was a little surprising that people were gambling at 11 in the morning, but then again this is vacation.

As she neared the front of the ship she saw a big entrance to something called Follies, which from what she saw on the map was some kind of auditorium. To the far sides of the entrance there were entrances that opened to a dark hallway with fluorescent signs over each one that read _Firebird Lounge._ The blonde assumed it was some kind of adult lounge or something and did not particularly want to find out, so she just found the stairs that led upwards so she could make her way to the Enchanted Forest which was apparently right above her.

The blonde spotted the group as she was just starting down the hall and was greeted by the various teens. She recognized most of the people who had gathered so far, but there were a few new faces. The group seemed to be growing larger each time they met up. Spencer spotted Ryan who called her over to come sit by him, a big grin on his face. They made small talk, but she couldn't help but feel a little awkward since she could tell he was really into her.

Spencer introduced herself to the new people and made conversation with everyone, but she couldn't quite focus her thoughts on what everyone was saying. A certain brunette had been occupying mind ever since she had first seen her and she had been completely unsuccessful so far at clearing her brain. She was soon shaken out of her trance by the sound of somebody speaking the certain brunette's name.

_"Where's Ashley and Kyla?" _inquired one of the boys.

_"I don't know, but they said they would be here_," replied on of the other guys.

As if on cue the girls in question rounded the corner, making their way towards the group. Kyla was smiling widely at everyone as Ashley looked likes he was still half asleep. Everyone in the group greeted the two with extra enthusiasm; apparently they had become very popular, especially with the boys of the group. Kyla sat down next to a tall, blondish haired boy who Spencer vaguely remembered as being named Chris. Ashley looked around for somewhere to sit, receiving several offers from various boys in the group. She glanced around at each of them as if considering her options until she spotted Spencer. She smiled at the blonde and took the spot on the other side of her offering a sleepy greeting.

"_Why in the hell did we decide to meet so early?"_ wondered Ashley out loud receiving laughs from the group. The majority of the boys had been checking her out non-stop from the moment she first walked up with her sister, and they were all quick to respond to anything she said in an attempt to catch her attention.

The blonde noticed all of this but couldn't really blame any of them, especially since she was guilty of checking out the brunette was well. "_Ash it's like almost noon..."_ giggled Spencer.

"_Yeah I know, and this little meeting is cutting into my beauty sleep,"_ replied Ashley in a serious tone.

"_Well that's okay because you so don't need it, you're already hott," _replied one of the random guys lamely.

The brunette just cocked an eyebrow at the boy and looked over at Spencer, "_Uh yeah...anyways..."_

The two just shook their heads and dove into a comfortable conversation about their trips so far. Everything was going quite well until Spencer was interrupted by a tapping on her leg. She looked over to her other side realizing that she had completely forgotten Ryan was even there.

_"Um...everyone is leaving to go walk around, are you coming?" _asked the boy after successfully getting the blonde's attention. He seemed a little nervous.

_"Uh I think I'll catch up with you guys later okay?" _responded the blonde, wanting to spend more time with Ashley.

"_Oh...ok cool. Well I'll see you later then! Bye," _replied the boy before following the rest of the group down the hall. Spencer and Ashley along with Kyla and Chris were the only ones who had stayed behind. Kyla and Chris seemed to be in a pretty intense conversation and probably hadn't even noticed that everyone had left.

Spencer turned back to Ashley, an apologetic look on her face for the interruption. The brunette just smirked back at her, and Spencer couldn't help but think just how adorable she looked.

"_He sooo has a crush on you!" _commented the brunette.

"_Who? Ryan?" _asked Spencer, a little thrown off by the comment.

"_Uh yeah! He was like staring at you the whole time we were talking, and you could totally tell he was hoping you would pay attention to him"_

_ "Oh...yeah, well I hung out with him last night at the club so he probably thinks I like him..."_

_ "Well?"_

_ "Well what?"_

_ "Do you like him?"_

Spencer couldn't really read the girl's tone, but it sounded like there was a little tinge of jealousy in her voice. The blonde couldn't tell for sure, so she decided to test her out a little bit more.

"_Well...I don't know. He's cute, and really sweet, what's not to like?"_

The brunette looked down, playing with her hands, "_Uh yeah totally." _The insecurity in her voice made Spencer feel that her theory was right so she decided to just be honest. After all, she wasn't too into playing mind games with people, mostly because she hated them being played on her.

"_But I don't think so; he's not really my type"_

This seemed to end Ashley's momentary lapse of confidence and she looked up at Spencer again, smiling. The adorable way her nose crinkled when she smiled could melt anyone's heart and added to the ever-growing list of things Spencer adored about her.

"_Hm, sucks for him!"_ replied Ashley.

"_Well there are definitely plenty of desperate girls on this ship, so I don't feel too bad. I mean my brother has already been all over at least four of them"_

_ "Ugh...thanks for the information" _commented Ashley, a disgusted look gracing her features.

"_Ha yeah sorry about that. So...what about you? You find anyone you like yet?"_ asked the blonde. She was a little nervous about going into this subject but she _had_ to know.

Ashley took a second to respond. She seemed to be trying to find the right thing to say. "_Uh...well sort of. But I don't know.."_

_ "What?"_

_ "Well, I just don't know if the person would even be interested.."_ Ashley explained, still not meeting Spencer's gaze.

_ "How are you gonna know unless you go for it? Plus if you get turned down you're never gonna have to see them again after the cruise is over," _encouraged the blonde, hoping that she didn't sound too obvious.

"_Yeah that's true...I don't know. But hey do you wanna go play basketball or something? This place is boring.."_ asked the brunette, standing up suddenly.

Spencer was kind of confused by the brunette's weird behavior all of the sudden, but got up as well.

"_Yeah sure"_

_ "Okay, let me get Kyla real quick." _Ashley walked up to Kyla, Spencer following a little ways behind. As soon as Kyla realized that her conversation with Chris was no longer private, she agreed to go along with the girls, dragging Chris along too.

Ashley and Kyla led the way to the basketball court with Chris and Spencer in tow. Spencer didn't even know there were basketball courts or where they could even be. The girls led the way up to the very top deck in the back of the ship revealing a netted in area with two basketball hoops and a jogging track that outlined the entire deck. There were various middle-aged joggers on the track and a few old couples playing shuffle board, but the basketball court was completely empty. At first Spencer didn't understand why the court was netted in, but quickly realized that the ball would get lost otherwise. She was definitely glad she hadn't asked the question out loud.

Once they had reached the court, Kyla and Ashley climbed through the little entrance hole in he net expertly. Spencer on the other hand had just a little bit of trouble making it through which of course received many giggles from the girls and Chris.

The four of them just shot around since none of them were really basketball players, but Chris and Ashley were surprisingly pretty good. Spencer was pretty surprised at the brunette's ability. She wasn't as good as Glen or anything, but she definitely looked like she knew what she was doing. The blonde just stood off to the side, watching the brunette with an astonished look on her face that did not go unnoticed by Ashley.

"_What?"_ asked the brunette, a hint of insecurity in her voice.

"_Nothing, I just never pegged you as a basketball player," _answered Spencer honestly.

"_Well you were right because I'm not. Organized team sports are not my thing,"_ commented Ashley, the confidence back in her voice.

"_Hm that's too bad because you're not bad,"_ remarked the blonde.

"_Well why don't you come out here and show me what you got blondie?"_

"_Uh that's okay, basketball isn't my thing either"_

_ "Well good, then you won't have to be embarrassed when I show you up," _taunted the brunette.

Spencer knew the girl was just trying to insult her so she would go play, but she went along with it anyway. Although she was certainly no basketball pro, Glen had taught her a few things here and there, so she wanted to show that she had been underestimated. The blonde walked out onto the court, knocking the ball out of Ashley's hands playfully and began showing off her dribbling skills. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy the look of surprise on Ashley's face as well as Chris and Kyla's. Spencer walked to the top of the key, bouncing the ball between her legs as Ashley continued to watch her in astonishment.

"_Are we gonna play or what?" _asked the blonde trying to sound casual as she hid her amusement.

Ashley snapped out of her daze when the blonde spoke, and regained her confident attitude as she walked up to the blonde to start the game. "_Let's go blondie"_

The girls played a short little game of one-on-one, both not trying really hard since they were just messing around.

The game was actually pretty even, but Ashley had a leg up on the blonde skill wise. Kyla and Chris just sat on the ground nearby, watching the two girls in amusement and laughing when one of them would totally mess up or show up the other.

After about an hour up at the courts they all got pretty bored, so they decided to get some pizza and ice cream on the pool deck. The four of them sat at a table, eating and enjoying casual conversation for while before the majority of the group spotted them and made their way over. One of the guys that was somewhat of an unofficial leader of the group invited them to come walk around and hang out, and since they had nothing better to do the four of them decided to join the group.

The group was now at about 25 kids and they walked around the various outside decks before making it down to the Lito deck in front of the auditorium that Spencer had seen earlier.

"_What's the Firebird Lounge?"_ asked one of the girls in the group.

Everyone just shrugged their shoulders, none of them actually having gone in and checked it out before. They all grew increasingly curious and decided to check the place out, everyone making their way into the dark hallway. Spencer and Ashley were at the back of the group so they were the last to see what the place was all about. Once they had made their way out of the dark hall, Spencer realized that she had been wrong before when she assumed it was an adult lounge. In fact it was if their group was the first to actually discover the place.

To their immediate right there was a bar completely tiled in black and stainless steel. The lounge had such a different vibe from anything Spencer had ever seen before. The lights were dimmed and had a red-ish tint to them that matched the way the room was decorated. The floor slanted downwards to the far wall and the room was filled with rows and rows of oriental print couches. The couches were all facing towards a small stage that was placed in the middle of the far wall with thick red curtains concealing most of it. Everyone in the group was completely captivated by the strange room and its atmosphere, and whispers of astonishment could be heard from each of them. Once everything began to sink each of them, the large group of teens all sat in on a few of the couches in a common area of the room. Spencer and Ashley were the last to join the group as they found an empty couch near everyone.

Excited conversations about this amazing new find filled the lounge for a good twenty minutes before it was officially dubbed the group's new hangout and everyone fell back into their normal conversations and gossip. Spencer and Ashley sat next to each other and chatted with a few others from the group about their lives back home and other things of the sort. The blonde was amazed at how completely comfortable she felt around Ashley. They had only met each other a few days before, but it felt like they had been close friends for years. That is kind of the way things happen in extreme environments like vacations and cruises, people form friendships and even relationships over just a few days that are more real and serious than those that took years to form. The whole concept was difficult for the blonde to grasp and added to the complete whirlwind inside of her head.

After a fair amount of time had passed with everyone just sitting around and talking, one of the girls in the group pulled out a pack of cards and started an exciting game of Bullshit that Spencer, Ashley, Kyla, Chris, and a few others excitedly joined. Shouts of "_Bullshit!!"_ and laughter rang out loudly from the teens involved in the game and everyone was having a pretty great time for just playing a card game. The game came to an end finally with Ashley as the winner who was making sure that she rubbed it in everyone's faces; but in a more cute than annoying way.

The group remained in the lounge for a while longer, everyone participating in hilarious story-telling and even some ridiculous random displays of dancing by some of the boys. Spencer and Ashley were broken out of their fairly interesting conversation about their favorite bands by a small group of boys running in and chuckling.

"_We've got it!"_ exclaimed one of the boys as the small group of them approached the rest of the teens.

"_Got what?"_ asked a random girl.

"_This!" _stated the boy as he pulled out a small bottle of A-1 sauce from his pocket and displayed it proudly in front of everyone.

"_What's so great about steak sauce?" _asked Ashley sarcastically.

"_Someone's gonna drink it that's what!"_ replied the boy grinning.

"_Yeah right, who's going to drink a bottle of A-1?" _scoffed the brunette.

"_Well...why don't you do it?" _offered the boy.

"_Ha, you've got to be kidding" _replied Ashley.

"_No, I'm serious. Why don't you do it? Unless you're too much of a wimpy girly girl,"_ taunted the boy. The entire group was sitting quietly and watching the dare.

Spencer could tell that Ashley did not like being taunted by the dumb boy, so she wasn't surprised with her reply to the challenge.

The brunette reached her hand out towards the boy, "_Alright fine, I'll do it. Give me the bottle"_

Everyone in the room was shocked that she had actually agreed and were practically on the edge of their seats in anticipation for what was going to happen. The boy handed her the bottle with a surprised smile, he had obviously not thought that she would actually agree to do it.

Ashley removed the cap and looked around at everyone, glancing quickly at Spencer before tilting her head back and bringing the small bottle to her lips. As she first began to chug the look of disgust showed immediately on her face, but she didn't stop. Ashley chugged the entire bottle and just about gagged as she set it down on a nearby end table. Her eyes were watering and she was using her hand to fan her mouth in an attempt to somehow get the disgusting taste from her mouth.

Everyone was speechless and utterly shocked at what the brunette had just done. After a few seconds it finally sank in and everyone began cheering and patting her on the back. However, Ashley was in too much discomfort over the horrible burning sensation in her throat to respond to the cheers and was glancing around in search of something to take the taste away.

_"I...water_.." the brunette managed to gasp out as she looked around frantically for anything to drink. Once she realized there was nothing of the sort in the lounge, she shot Spencer and Kyla a short glance before rushing out of the room to relieve herself of the horrible taste and burning. The blonde debated for a few moments on whether or not she should go after her and help her, but she quickly decided against it reasoning that Ashley was probably long gone in search of water.

_Well this day certainly has been interesting so far, and it's still early_, thought the blonde to herself as everyone else went back to their previous conversations.


	11. Hands Down

**"My hopes are so high that you kiss might kill me, so won't you kill me, so I'll die happy. My heart is yours to fill or burst, to break or bury, or wear as jewelry, whichever you prefer" - Dashboard Confessional**

* * *

The Carlins were finishing up their evening meal at the Truffles restaurant and enjoying a fairly pleasant conversation about how the trip was going for each of them so far.

Spencer didn't go into too much detail about who she was hanging out with, Ashley in particular, mostly for her own sake since she wasn't sure she could talk about the gorgeous brunette in comprehensible sentences. Her brain felt like pudding when she thought of the girl, which was the majority of the time.

Spencer hadn't seen any sign of Ashley since she had run out of Firebird in desperate search of water. The blonde had actually been pretty worried about her and regretted her decision not to run after her and make sure she was alright. The group remained in "their" lounge for a couple more hours before all going their separate ways for dinner.

Even though the girl had only drank steak sauce Spencer couldn't help but worry about how she was doing, and she knew that her excessive amount of concern was most likely rooted in the feelings she was developing for the brunette. However, she tried not to let her thoughts linger too much on the way the girl made her feel since she knew that there was no way to make sense of it.

The blonde went back to her room and spent extra time getting ready for the evening, knowing that she could certainly use the extra confidence that came with the extra little effort put into her looks.

She had decided upon wearing a short, jean mini-skirt with a form-fitting light blue tank top to match her eyes. She was hoping that her outfit would draw some extra attention, particularly from a certain brunette, and help her to decipher just what was going on between Ashley and herself.

Even with the extra time put into getting ready, Spencer still had a good half hour before the club was actually supposed to start. She didn't really want to sit around with her brothers in her room, and she had pretty much explored the entire ship, so she finally settled upon going down to the club early and see if anyone was there yet.

When the blonde passed through the double doors to Medusa's Lair, she was surprised to see almost the entire group hanging out in the upper level of the club. She was even more shocked to see Ashley there so early as well.

As Spencer made her way over to the group of teens she heard a few of them say things like "_come on do it!_" and "_yeah come on it's just a dare_," but she couldn't tell who they were talking to. When she reached her friends she realized that they were all egging on Ashley to do something once again, who was standing right across from her.

The brunette had locked eyes with Spencer once she had made her way over to them and held her gaze or a few moments before turning to the kid who had apparently offered the dare.

_"I'll kiss this girl,"_ stated Ashley calmly as if it were nothing. The words had barely registered in the blonde's mind before the other kid agreed.

Ashley turned to face the blonde again and just shrugged her shoulders and gave her a questioning look. Spencer was still in shock at what was going on so she just stared back at the brunette, not able to think straight let alone reply. Before she even realized what was happening Ashley had taken a step towards her and lightly placed her hands on the blonde's cheeks, wetting her lips and maintaining eye contact.

The blonde's breath had been caught in her throat ever since she heard those words come from Ashley's mouth. As the brunette finally leaned in, lightly grazing Spencer's lips with her own, she regained her ability to exhale.

Ashley pulled back a little bit so that their lips were not quite touching, giving the blonde a second to recover from the shock of the situation before firmly capturing Spencer in a searing kiss.

Spencer thought her heart was going to explode from her chest when Ashley pressed her mouth to her own, but she recovered quickly, surprising even herself as she responded to the kiss with matching force.

The liplock only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to the blonde. Ashley pulled back slowly, lightly caressing the blonde's soft cheek with her thumb and locking eyes with her the moment they fluttered open.

The two girls were pulled out of their own little world at the sound of the surrounding teens' shock turning into loud cheers and whistles. They reluctantly broke each other's intense gaze and looked around the club at the rest of the group.

Spencer immediately felt herself blushing at what had just happened and the fact that it had happened in front of all of their friends. As she looked around at everyone she received grins and thumbs up from everyone.

Her gaze finally fell upon the brunette once again who was covering her embarrassment by smirking back at their friends and nodding. The blonde found it completely adorable.

After a few minutes the excitement over what had just happened calmed down and Spencer was finally able to have an actual conversation with the shorter girl. The awkwardness of the whole situation did not go unnoticed while they attempted to make small talk.

_"So…yeah sorry about that randomness earlier. We were all playing truth or dare and they dared me to kiss chick Jocelyn or whatever her name is. And since I obviously don't like backing down from dares, when I saw you come in I just figured you were a much better choice if I had to do it," _explained Ashley nervously.

"_Oh it's totally fine don't worry...you just really caught me off guard," _laughed the blonde. She couldn't believe that she was actually able to be so calm.

"_Ha yeah I bet. Well anyways...sorry if that was weird or anything,"_

_"Oh no don't worry about it,"_ assured the blonde. "_I'm glad to see that you're doing okay after chugging that nasty stuff, I was kind of worried," _admitted the blonde.

"_Oh man! I was seriously seconds away from puking in the lounge right afterwards. I don't think I've run that fast in my life!" _Ashley stated, her face scrunching up at the memory of the horrible taste.

"_I'm sorry I didn't come with you to help…I figured that you were already long gone and that I'd never catch up with you!" _apologized Spencer. She had been feeling pretty bad about just letting Ashley run off alone with nobody to help her out.

"_Oh it's totally fine, you're right you would have never caught up with me, I was fuckin booking it!"_

_"Ha yeah I bet!"_

The club had begun to fill up during the girls' conversation, and now the place was getting packed. After another few minutes the DJ got things going with the first track which turned out to be an extremely familiar song to pretty much every teen in the place.

Ashley immediately smiled over at the blonde once she realized what song was being played. The blonde returned the grin before she found herself being dragged by the hand to the dance floor by an extremely excited Ashley.

_"Come on Spence, we _**_have_**_ to dance to Lean Back!! It's pretty much mandatory"_

Spencer made no protests to the shorter girl's request and was enjoying the feeling of Ashley's hand in her own as she was being led down the plexi-glass stairs to jam-packed dance floor.


	12. Foxey Lady

**"I see you, on down on the scene, you make me wanna get up and scream, ah baby listen now, I've made up my mind, I'm tired of wasting all my precious time, you've got to be all mine, all mine, foxy lady...here I come" - Jimmi Hendrix**

* * *

The entire experience was intoxicating for the blonde. Between the feelings of Ashley's body pressed up against hers and the brunette's hot, labored breathing against her neck; Spencer was sure she was seconds away from passing out.

The two girls had been dancing for a good twenty minutes amongst the large crowd of teens in the club and Spencer was feeling almost unbearably hot. Whether it had been caused by the increasing body heat radiating off of the large group of people so close together, or the fact that she and Ashley had been moving together so intimately for such an extended amount of time; the blonde really couldn't be sure.

The girls had been dancing facing each other, eyes locked in an intense yet endearing gaze the entire time. Spencer had one hand gripping the brunette's shoulder as Ashley rested hers on the small of the blonde's back.

The two had become bolder with the placement of their hands and contact of their bodies with each song that played. If anyone had taken notice of their intimacy, neither girl would have been aware because they were completely caught up in their own world and the two of them was all that mattered.

Their moment, however, was interrupted by the DJ who had randomly decided to play a pop rock song and completely threw off the dancing vibe. The girls broke apart and smiled disappointedly at the fact that the moment was ruined.

After a few moments the blonde noticed a shift in Ashley's expression as she began to look uncomfortable and a little embarrassed. She wasn't quite sure what had caused the sudden change, but the brunette began to shift uneasily as she looked at everyone around them.

_"Um, I think I'm gonna go get something to drink. I'll be right back," _said Ashley suddenly as she faced the blonde.

"_Oh, alright," _responded the blonde unsurely.

Ashley gave her a small nod before turning and walking up the stairs and then out of the club. Spencer felt more confused than ever. _Did I do something wrong? We didn't really talk much so it couldn't be something I said…_

After a few moments Spencer decided to find some place to sit so she didn't look like an idiot just standing on the dance floor alone, caught up in her thoughts. She soon found a spot in the corner that was away from everyone else and tried to keep herself from thinking too much about everything. It was probably nothing anyways; she was just looking into it too much.

After about twenty minutes of sitting in the corner by herself Spencer decided to go see where Ashley had run off to. However, the brunette was nowhere to be found as she made her way out of the club and looked around. All she saw was a few older passengers walking by or sitting at the small bar nearby.

Spencer couldn't help but feel frustrated at the thought of being ditched once again, but decided not to let it ruin her night. After getting a drink from the bar she made her way back into the club and looked around for some familiar faces.

It only took a few moments before she had spotted Ryan and made her way over to the boy. Ryan saw her as she approached and greeted her with an eager grin and hug.

_"Hey Spencer, I haven't seen you since this morning! What's up?" _asked the boy.

_"Yeah I know, not too much, just hanging out. How about you?"_

_"Same here, I was actually hoping I'd see you here,"_

_"Aw, me too. Wanna Dance?" _asked the blonde. She knew she probably shouldn't be leading the boy on, but needed something to distract her from the uncertainty about Ashley plaguing her brain.

"_Yeah, for sure!" _replied Ryan who excitedly grabbed her hand and began to lead her to the crowded dance floor.

The two found and empty spot and began moving together to the music. Spencer could tell that Ryan was ecstatic about being in the blonde's company again as he couldn't contain his grin. After a few moments the boy moved behind the blonde, gently grabbing her hips and dancing up against her. He wasn't being forceful or touchy, so she decided just to go with it for the time being. After all, it was just a harmless dance.

As the song progressed Spencer found herself scanning the faces in the crowd for Ashley, hoping that she had come back by now. But by the time the song ended the brunette had yet to make an appearance, and the blonde gave up waiting for the girl to come back.

After a few more songs Spencer excused herself from Ryan to get another soda from the bar. She wasn't paying too much attention to the people around her as she made her way up the plexiglass stairs, so she was certainly surprised when she bumped into none other than Ashley.

The brunette stumbled a little bit after the collision before meeting Spencer's questioning eyes. The blonde could tell that something was a little off with her by the way her beautiful brown eyes seemed hazy and unfocused.

"_Oh man, sorry Spence," _spoke the brunette, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"_It's alright Ash. Where have you been?" _Spencer asked, gazing intently into the girl's deep, chocolate eyes that seemed to be even darker than usual.

"_Oh...uh...I was, I was jus…just out there with some people t…talking and stuff," _slurred the brunette.

"_Ash are you okay? You're acting kind of weird," _inquired Spencer concerned.

"_Oh yeah I'm totally f…fine. It's all good Spence. Are you okay?" _

_"Yeah Ashley, I'm just fine," _replied the blonde, shaking her head in confusion over Ashley's sudden behavior.

_"Good, well I'm gonna head b…back out, so you just take good care of yourself alright? I'll talk to y…ya later," _stated the brunette, gesturing sluggishly with her hands.

Ashley was out the double doors before Spencer could even fathom what was going on. It only took her a few moments to realize that the girl was most likely drunk which would definitely explain her strange behavior and impaired speaking abilities.

Spencer was instantly filled with what could only be described as disappointment. Not necessarily about the fact that Ashley had been drinking, but because they had seemed to really have something going on earlier and now it all seemed ruined, at least for the night.

The blonde also couldn't help but worry about Ashley wandering around the ship drunkenly where God knows what could happen to her. She decided that this time she wasn't just going to sit around and worry, but actually go after the girl.

The last song was playing in the club as she went to retrieve her purse and all the teens were beginning to file out the double doors. The blonde ran into none other than Ryan as she was making her way out of the club once again who began to ask her where she was going.

_"I'm gonna go look for my friend Ashley, I really need to find her," _informed Spencer.

_"Oh, well I heard from some people that there is this big basketball game going on up on the sports deck, so you could check there," _Ryan suggested. He really was a sweet guy.

"_Thank you so much, I bet that's where she is. I'm gonna go up there right now," _

_"Hey do you want me to come with you? I can help you look…" _offered the boy earnestly.

"_Oh no it's okay, really. I'm most likely just gonna help her get back to her cabin so it's cool,"_

_"Are you sure Spencer, cuz I really don't mind," _

_"Yes, really it's fine. Thank you so much though. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"_ replied the blonde quickly. She just wanted to go find Ashley as quickly as possible.

Ryan just nodded and wrapped the blonde in a sweet, sincere hug before the two went their separate ways. Spencer took off for the nearest elevator to make her way up to the sports deck. The very top deck. She couldn't help but feel even more worried at the prospect of Ashley going all the way up there in the dark when she could barely for coherent sentences.

As the blonde finally approached the running track with the basketball courts located in the middle she frantically scanned through the crowd of people for a glimpse of the brunette. After a few moments she finally spotted the girl who was leaning against the net surrounding the court. As she came closer to the girl, Ashley turned her head and spotted the rapidly approaching Spencer.

_"Heeey! Spence I was t…totally just wondering where yooooou were, and look, you're heeere!" _Ashley slurred as she stumbled towards the blonde.

_"Ash, be careful, you're gonna fall,"_ Spencer warned as she was a few steps away from the girl.

_"Pshhh, no way. I've got impectab…able balance! Imp-ap-ec-ab-b-bleeee," _laughed the brunette as she finally reached Spencer, grabbing onto her shoulders for support.

Imp-ap-ec-ab-b-bleeee," laughed the brunette as she finally reached Spencer, grabbing onto her shoulders for support.

"_Ash…"_ sighed the blonde, grabbing onto the girl's arms to steady her. "_Ash, you're so wasted. Where did you even get the alcohol from?"_ she asked, not really expecting an actual answer.

_"Um…one of those b-bar thingies wasn't paying too much at-ten-tension to our ordeeerrrs," _

_"You should really go to bed; you shouldn't be walking around here in the dark like this. It's not safe," _stated the concerned blonde.

The brunette immediately shook her head at the suggestion, only proceeding to intensify her dizziness. _"Awww…Spencey, you're so sweet when you're worriiiiieeed…" _Ashley said as she brought a hand up to the blonde's cheek and looked hazily into her intense blue eyes.

_"No Ashley seriously, we should get you back to your cabin…" _started the blonde before she was interrupted by Ashley pressing a finger to her lips to silence her.

_"Shh…it's okay Spenceeeeyy," _giggled the brunette, "_I'm gonna be just f-fine alriiighht. You don't have to worry ab-bouttt me, just go to sleeeep and I'll see you tomor-ro-row, okaaay?"_

_"But Ash…"_

_"Shh…no, really," _insisted Ashley, interrupting the blonde once again, "_Not another wo-ord abooout it Spencey, just go to bed!"_

If Spencer hadn't been so concerned about the girl she would have found her drunken reasoning hysterical. The blonde reluctantly accepted the fact that there was no point in arguing with Ashley and that there was no way she was ever going to convince her into going to bed. So Spencer just gazed at the gorgeous, incoherent girl and hoped that she would, in fact, be okay and not end up overboard somehow.

Ashley gazed back at the taller girl with as much focus she could muster and grinned sloppily at her before wrapping her in a tight, intimate hug. Spencer let herself relax in the drunken girl's arms while the strong stench of hard alcohol filled her nose. Even though the brunette was completely tanked, Spencer couldn't help but revel in the feel of the smaller girl's wrapped securely around her.

After a few long moments Ashley pulled back to release Spencer from the embrace, but kept her arms loosely around the girl's waist.

"_Goodnight Spence,"_ said Ashley sweetly.

"_Goodnight Ash, please be careful," _replied the blonde in a last attempt to help the drunken girl.

"_I will, don't worry," _whispered Ashley before she leaned in, placing a sweet kiss on the blonde's cheek. The smaller girl slowly pulled back, offering Spencer one last sincere smile before retreating back towards the basketball court.

Spencer watched her as she made her way back over to the net surrounding the court. Once the smaller girl had reached the net the blonde turned around and began to walk back towards the stairs down to the nearest elevator in defeat.

The blonde had a hard time falling asleep that night out of genuine concern for Ashley. This thing going on between them, whatever it was, was certainly complicated and confusing to say the least, but that didn't matter in the slightest to Spencer. All she knew was that she had never felt this way, and whatever this _thing_ between her and Ashley would bring, well she would welcome it with open arms.


End file.
